Born Again
by WelsperTheCat
Summary: A Norse mythology/OMG fusion, Fujishima style! Contrary to popular belief, I haven't died. Furthermore, I promise Ch6 won't take this long... which isn't saying much.
1. Through the Looking Glass

"Born Again"  
  
Chapter 1   
"Through the Looking Glass"  
  
By Brian Welch   
bwelchz7@yahoo.com  
  
For the loneliest goddess.  
  
Based on the manga Aa! Megami-sama   
(Ah! My Goddess!/Oh My Goddess!)  
  
The wonderful world of Aa! Megami-sama was created by Kosuke   
Fujishima. Aa! Megami-sama/Oh My Goddess! characters are copyright   
Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo, Studio Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc.  
  
-----  
  
In the beginning there was no Heaven or Hell, no gods or demons. In  
all of Wyrd's creation there was only Ginnungagap, the dark abyss of  
Chaos, bordered to the North by cold, dark Nifelheim and to the  
South by hot, fiery Muspelheim. Cold mists held sway in lifeless  
Nifelheim, while Muspelheim was ruled by Surt, swathed in fire and  
wielding his flaming sword. Rising out of the Ginnungagap stood  
Yggdrasil, the world tree, tended by the three Norns, Urd, Verdandi  
and Skuld.  
  
In the fullness of time within Ginnungagap mists from the icy rivers  
of Nifelheim and sparks thrown from the fires of Muspelheim met and  
combined to form two giant beings, the cow Audhumbla and the giant  
Ymer. From Audhumbla was created Bure, the ancestor of Odin and the  
other gods who came to be known as the Aesir. From Ymer sprang the  
race of the frost giants.  
  
Yggdrasil had three roots ending in three wells. These were Urd's  
well guarded by the Norns, Mimer's well guarded by the giant Mimer  
the Wise, and Hvergelmir in Nifelheim, where the great worm Nidhog  
gnawed upon the root, sending poisons throughout the world tree.  
  
For long ages the gods ruled over the affairs of humanity,  
protecting them from the frost giants to the North and teaching them  
many things. But in time the gods forgot their place in creation,  
becoming proud and breaking their promises. So, the three who  
tended Yggdrasil were sent to counsel the gods, but the gods  
listened not to the prophets of Wyrd. Then Wyrd regretted the  
making of the gods and resolved to destroy them and remake creation.  
This saddened the Norns for they loved all of creation, and they  
warned the gods of the approach of Ragnaroc. Yet, still the gods  
did not repent of their ways.  
  
As the time for Ragnaroc drew near the three who tended Yggdrasil  
prayed that Wyrd would have mercy upon creation, and the maker's  
heart was softened, for truly Wyrd loved creation as much as they.  
So it was that the final battle never came. Humanity, as had been  
foretold, turned from worshipping the gods and began to worship the  
one god. The gods and demons were destroyed, for such was the  
nature of their sin, but were then reborn, for such is the nature of  
forgiveness. The prophets of Wyrd were reborn as well, for the  
memory of the old times rested heavily upon their hearts. The gods  
were given dominion over Yggdrasil and a new, more peaceful order  
established.  
  
Yet not all was well with creation, for the worm Nidhog still chewed  
upon the root of Yggdrasil. The World Tree was still dying. And  
all the while, on earth, the humans were growing in knowledge and  
experience.  
  
  
Aa! Megami-sama   
"Born Again"  
  
CHAPTER 1  
  
"Through the Looking Glass"  
  
-----  
  
Yggdrasil Maintenance Facility, Heaven circa 2150 A.D.  
  
-----  
  
A lone chair floats above a ring of harried computer operators. In  
the chair sits a tanned, platinum haired woman apparently in her mid  
twenties. The beauty of her face is currently disfigured by a  
scowl.  
  
"What a waste of time!" Urd muttered under her breath as she  
concentrated on the status panels which floated around her. "This  
has got to be the dumbest thing we've ever been told to do. It  
isn't like we don't already have our hands full just trying to hold  
Yggdrasil together these days." With a flick of her fingers she  
tweaked a parameter. For the next few hours she would have to be on  
her toes. She couldn't afford to overlook anything.  
  
"Why couldn't the Almighty have decided to send Peorth or some other  
goddess from one of the other goddess offices?" Urd stabbed at  
another panel of the ailing system. One minor oversight, nothing  
serious enough to get her into real trouble, and Peorth could be  
sent to an alternate dimension filled with slime molds the size of  
houses. Ho ho, now wouldn't that be fun! Urd closed her eyes for a  
moment, imagining the scene. But no, the Almighty had decided to  
send Belldandy, and that meant absolutely nothing could go wrong.  
Urd's eyes flashed again across the screens, checking and rechecking  
system status.  
  
Belldandy waited in the Relief Goddess Office, her head bowed in  
prayer. Only one long accustomed to her normally serene state would  
have noticed the lines of strain upon her face. After a minute, she  
ended her prayer and dialed the phone at her side.  
  
In Yggdrasil maintenance, the phone was answered by an annoyed Urd.  
"Yeah, who is it?"  
  
"Urd, do you have the gateway stabilized, yet?" Belldandy asked her  
elder sister.  
  
Urd relaxed at her sister's voice. "It'll be ready in a minute,  
Bell. I'm running the final status checks right now."  
  
Within the Yggdrasil mainframe complex a small white creature  
appeared and began to scamper merrily across the surface of the  
ultimate computer. It looked for all the world like a cute cartoon  
bunny rabbit, except it had eight legs.  
  
Back in the Yggdrasil Maintenance, Urd's attention snapped to one of  
the panels. "Damn it, not another one!"  
  
A hammer came crashing down upon the odd creature, which gave a  
startled look and promptly vanished. Keiichi Morisato stepped back  
to survey the surface of Yggdrasil. "I don't see any others, Skuld,  
it must have been a stray," he called to a raven-haired girl  
apparently in her late teens.  
  
The youngest Norn gave an exhausted sigh of relief, then walked over  
to her brother-in-law. "That should be the last of them for a  
while, then. The bug zappers are reset and the new debugging  
routines are all up and running. I'll let Urd know." She tapped a  
floating panel.  
  
"Everything looks stable, Urd"  
  
"Then let's get this show on the road," Urd grumbled. "Belldandy,  
the resolution's terrible, but I can tell he's in close proximity to  
a couple of mirrors. I'm locking onto the nearest one. Remember,  
we'll re- stabilize the gateway in four terrestrial hours. You have  
that long to convince him."  
  
"I'll remember," came the reply.  
  
"Good luck, Sis! Be careful!" Skuld added.  
  
"I will."  
  
"I love you, Belldandy."  
  
"I love you too, Keiichi."  
  
"OK, guys, keep the bugs out of the gate control for a few more  
seconds," Urd said.  
  
"You got it," Skuld went back to scanning.  
  
"She's on her way." Keiichi said to no one in particular.  
  
Skuld placed a hand on his shoulder, her attention still on the  
system. "Don't worry, Sis is the best there is."  
  
"Yes, she is. Thanks."  
  
From her chair in the Maintenance Facility, Urd concentrated on her  
consoles. The portal was holding up fine. In four hours, assuming  
things held together that long, this charade would be over.  
  
The phone rang.  
  
Urd cursed as she picked up the phone. "Yeah, who is it?" she  
snapped in her customary greeting these days.  
  
"It is I," came the last voice she had expected to hear.  
  
Aack! "A-Almighty One!"  
  
-----  
  
Blacktail Bed and Breakfast Inn, Jackson Hole, Wyoming  
  
-----  
  
The data feed to his implanted AI relayed the news of some  
monumental natural disaster.  
  
Again.  
  
Just another sound bite in an endless string of bad news about a  
planet going berserk.  
  
None of that bothered him right now, though. He had more immediate  
worries. "Easy, easy..." he coached himself through clenched teeth.  
"Ouch! Darn, nicked myself again." Eric Donovan raised his free  
hand to his face. He was standing in a quaint, centuries old claw  
foot bathtub. In his right hand was an old- fashioned twin-bladed  
razor with which he was, with only partial success, shaving. The  
rain from the shower head washed the blood from his fingertips as he  
analyzed the situation. "Eric," he muttered to himself, "this has  
got to be something of a record for dumb ideas. Even if you don't  
bleed to death, you will never make it to breakfast at this rate."  
  
It wasn't as if several less potentially painful solutions to the  
problem of facial hair didn't exist these days, but there was  
something about the barbarity of dragging a sharp sliver of metal  
across ones face which had appealed to him when he had found the  
ancient razor. "Oh, well, I'd better finish. Starvation can be my  
penance for such a shameful waste of hot water, not to mention  
abusing this antique." Not that he really cared much about energy  
conservation or antique razors right now. What he did care about  
was the fact that the steam from the shower fogged his shaving  
mirror terribly, making the task that much harder. He reached up to  
wipe it for the umpteenth time.  
  
The mirror's surface rippled.  
  
"Eyaaaaa!" Eric snatched back his hand, checked to see if all his  
fingers were still there (they were), and turned his attention back  
to the mirror, which at the moment was obscured by... somebody's  
head coming through it!?  
  
A wide-eyed Eric did what any young, red-blooded male would have  
done in a similar circumstance. Unfortunately, he forgot to open the  
shower curtain first.  
  
The sound of a body crashing to the ancient pine floor was followed  
by a loud "Ouch!" as the falling curtain stand careened off his  
head. As Eric scrambled to his feet to continue his sprint from the  
bathroom, he heard what was probably the last sound he had expected,  
a very feminine "Eeek!"  
  
Skidding to a halt, he turned in time to see a very beautiful, very  
wet girl in an elaborate costume and strange makeup standing in what  
had been the shower. The water had stopped somehow, and a moment  
later she was... dry?  
  
"How in Heaven's name did I end up in a running shower?" Belldandy  
said, turning to look at the small shaving mirror still dangling  
from its hook. "Oh, my!" Making the best of a bad situation, she  
turned towards the object of her mission. "Good morning," she said  
cheerfully, stepping daintily from the tub. "I am the goddess  
Belldandy. Are you Eric Donovan?"  
  
Eric blinked, nodded dumbly, then noticed her bare feet weren't  
quite touching the floor. He sprang backwards, only to be reminded  
of something as a rush of cool air met wet flesh.  
  
"Waaa!"  
  
Eric snatched a towel and began wrapping it around himself. "I must  
be a hallucinating," he reasoned. "Yeah, the blow from the shower  
rod, that must be it!"  
  
[Negative,] his AI informed him. [Brain patterns are normal.  
Sensory records match recent memory.]  
  
While Eric was being lectured by his AI, Belldandy studied the young  
man. Nearly two meters tall, his features were distinctly African.  
He might have been taken for such if it weren't for his eyes, a  
strikingly clear blue. He was also visibly trembling and radiating  
an almost palpable level of fear and confusion.  
  
"Please don't be afraid, I won't harm you," she assured him as her  
feet settled upon solid ground. "I must apologize for appearing in  
your shower, but our systems aren't functioning correctly, and...  
oh, you're bleeding!"  
  
Eric put a hand to his face. His fingers came away with a mixture  
of blood and soap. "Oh yeah, forgot about that." When he looked  
up, Belldandy was standing in front of him.  
  
"Here," she said, touching his face.  
  
"Hey!" Eric jumped back, but not before he felt a tingling  
sensation. He slapped a hand to the spot Belldandy had touched and  
felt smooth, dry skin. "What the..." he said as he ran his hand  
across his jaw. There was no trace of blood, soap or stubble. "How  
did you do that!?" Lasers? Sonics? For the moment, fear had been  
swept away by curiosity.  
  
[Insufficient data,] his AI informed him.  
  
"I sped up your metabolism to heal the cuts, then rearranged the  
atomic structure of everything else to form harmless gasses,"  
Belldandy stated matter-of- factly as she turned her attention to  
what had once been a shower curtain.  
  
"Uh-huh." Rearranged the atoms? Does she expect me to believe  
that, or am I imagining all this? Either way, I wonder how far I'd  
get if I started running now?  
  
[Given the abilities she has demonstrated so far, not far enough.]  
  
I was afraid of that, Eric mentally sighed.  
  
Belldandy muttered something in a language Eric didn't understand  
and made a few motions in the air. The curtain and rod sprang back  
into place as if nothing had happened.  
  
"Oh my god." Eric whispered as beads of sweat began to form on his  
brow. "You're not human, are you?"  
  
"No, of course not," Belldandy replied. "As I said before, I'm a  
goddess. Here's my card."  
  
Eric stared at the apparently normal business card as if Belldandy  
were offering him a live rattlesnake, but after a long moment's  
hesitation he took it anyway.  
  
The card seemed surprisingly ordinary for someone claiming to be a  
goddess. So maybe she was a goddess, or just a really smart alien.  
The human race certainly didn't posses the technology to pull off  
what he had just seen. Not outside of a laboratory, at least.  
  
"Oh, but I am a goddess," Belldandy insisted. "As a goddess first  
class, I'm not allowed to lie."  
  
Eric froze. "Did you just..." Nah, she couldn't have read my mind,  
must have been a coincidence. Get a grip on yourself, buddy.  
  
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to upset you. I can't normally read  
someone's mind, only when I'm acting in official capacity like I am  
now."  
  
The card fluttered to the floor. Eric stared, sweated some more,  
and contemplated escape scenarios.  
  
I don't have much time to convince him, and I dare not fail,  
Belldandy worried. If only this were as simple as granting a wish.  
  
"Perhaps you will feel better once you've dressed," she offered, and  
turner her back.  
  
As he pulled on shorts and a T-shirt, Eric considered his options.  
Make an emergency call to the police? It'd take too long for them to  
arrive. Try to hide? How do you hide from someone who can read your  
mind? In fact, that nixes just about all escape ideas. That was  
when it hit him. Seeing this, whatever it was, through to the end  
was somehow very important. But why?  
  
Any further thought was preempted by the sound of footsteps in the  
hallway and a knock on the door. An elderly woman's voice, faintly  
accented with German, came from out in the hallway. "Eric, are you  
all right? I heard a noise a few minutes ago."  
  
Eric jumped. Oh, no! I should have known all that noise would  
attract attention! He shot a terrified glance towards the door,  
then remembered with relief that it was still locked.  
  
Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he answered as calmly as  
possible. "Yes, Mrs. Scheffler, I just slipped coming out of the  
shower. Everything's OK." Not the whole truth, but not entirely a  
lie, either.  
  
"All right, then, I'll see you at breakfast," came the voice, and  
the sound of footsteps faded down the hall.  
  
"Whew, that was close." Eric turned back to Belldandy. Say  
something nice, Eric, he counseled himself. "So, um, what brought  
you to my bathroom?" Oh, yeah, that was really intelligent.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," Belldandy apologized. "I'm here to ask for your  
help. I can explain more thoroughly, but I know my arrival has put  
you under a lot of strain. I also know it might be difficult  
explaining the presence of a strange woman in your room." Belldandy  
recalled when she had first met Keiichi. "Would it be better if I  
left now and came to the front door in, say, five minutes?"  
  
"Well, yeah. I mean, that'd be fine!" Wow, she's certainly polite,  
whatever she is.  
  
"I'll wait outside," Belldandy said, smiling.  
  
"OK, um, do you want to use the win--" Eric blinked as Belldandy  
was suddenly standing on thin air outside his window. "...dow?"  
  
Belldandy waved and settled to the ground.  
  
Eric backed from the window and sat down on his bed.  
  
Outside, Belldandy closed her eyes and breathed deeply, reveling in  
the feel of cool grass beneath her bare feet, the crisp air, the  
smell of pine trees, the sounds of birds singing and leaves  
rustling. I had forgotten how much I missed the Earth, she sighed.  
Heaven had all these things, but the grass there was perfectly cool  
and green, the birds all sang lovely tunes, the leaves rarely piled  
up on the ground. She suddenly realized how much she had missed the  
variety implicit in an imperfect world, even one as tinged with  
melancholy as the Earth now was. Despite our best efforts, the  
System's troubles are being felt here, she realized.  
  
Belldandy turned to examine the building from which she had emerged.  
It was a rustic log structure, centuries old. What memories must be  
in this place, she thought as her hand stroked along the grain of a  
log. If she was successful, it would be given the chance to exist  
for centuries more.  
  
Eric lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling. "She calls herself  
the goddess Belldandy. OK, any ideas on who or what she really is?"  
  
[Belldandy matches no known mythology. Insufficient data for  
further analysis.]  
  
"What you mean is we have plenty of data, it just doesn't make  
sense. OK, let's assume for argument that she has been truthful so  
far. The obvious question, of course, is why someone who can do  
things like teleport and rearrange matter would need the help of  
someone like me. The obvious answer is 'She wouldn't.' So, is she  
lying? Only one way to tell for sure."  
  
The smell of pancakes and sausage floating from the dining room and  
across the foyer greeted Eric as he hurried downstairs. He was  
dressed in well-worn blue jeans, a red chamois shirt and sneakers.  
  
Someone knocked at the front door.  
  
"I'll get it!" Eric said, sprinting the last few steps to the door.  
  
"Hello, Eric," Belldandy said when the door opened. "It's good to  
see you, again. May I come in?"  
  
She had exchanged her goddess uniform for a conventional dress and  
jacket combination which gave her a relaxed, businesslike  
appearance. Her feet were now in shoes and firmly in contact with  
the floor, Eric noticed. He forced a smile.  
  
"Ah, certainly, come right in!" he said in what he hoped was a  
cheerful voice. Boy, she even changed clothes! I hadn't thought of  
that. She certainly seems to be trying hard to make this easy on  
me.  
  
"Thank you. I always try to be helpful," Belldandy beamed. She  
breathed in the aromas which filled the foyer and sighed. "How I  
miss cooking."  
  
"You're just in time for breakfast," Eric offered, taking note of  
her interest. "Are you hungry?" I'm starving, but can she even eat  
human food?  
  
"Thank you. I would love to join you for breakfast," Belldandy  
reassured him. It's been so long. This will be a treat!  
  
Eric led her to a small table off to one side of the dining room,  
attempting to appear nonchalant. He needn't have bothered. Every  
eye in the room was riveted to the young lady at his side.  
  
"What can I get for you?" Eric asked Belldandy once he had seated  
her.  
  
"I'll have some tea, please, and one of those muffins if it's not  
too much trouble," Belldandy said, looking at what was set out on  
the serving table. He's dealing with this much better now, she  
noted.  
  
"Coming right up. Um, what kind of tea do you prefer?"  
  
"Darjeeling, if you have it."  
  
What's Darjeeling tea? Eric wondered as his eyes scanned the  
serving table.  
  
[A tea produced at high elevation in the Himalayan mountains, in the  
Darjeeling region of India. It has a delicate, light flavor--]  
  
"Looks like all we have is lemon, apple and that regular black pekoe  
stuff," Eric said, interrupting his AI's exposition.  
  
"Black will be fine, thank you."  
  
In a couple of minutes they were both settled with their breakfasts.  
Eric sat with his back to the kitchen, steadfastly ignoring the  
intensely curious glances being directed his way.  
  
Belldandy sipped her tea and nibbled her muffin while Eric dove into  
eggs, sausage and pancakes, washing it all down with a large glass  
of orange juice.  
  
After a few minutes, he noticed Belldandy watching him. "Is  
something wrong?"  
  
"Not at all, I like watching someone enjoying their food as much as  
you do."  
  
"Oh, yeah." Eric looked down at his plate, which was almost half  
devoured yet still held what most people would consider a full  
breakfast. "I guess I'm making a pig of myself."  
  
"Nonsense. Enjoy your meal." He certainly must have an active  
lifestyle to maintain his current physical condition while ingesting  
so many calories. Belldandy smiled. He reminds me of Tamiya and  
Ootaki. For a moment, she allowed her mind to drift back to  
memories of friends long gone.  
  
When they had finished, Eric gathered their dishes and then  
hesitated. If I go back to the kitchen, Mrs. Scheffler will ambush  
me for sure.  
  
"I'll take those, Eric," a deep, German accented voice said from  
behind him. Eric spun in a panic to find a large, powerfully built  
man who matter-of-factly took the dishes from him. With a curt nod  
to Belldandy, Mr. Scheffler strode off with the dishes towards the  
kitchen.  
  
"What a saint!" Eric sighed in relief. He hadn't even noticed the  
big man's approach. I must really be distracted for him to have  
sneaked up on me like that.  
  
Eric turned to Belldandy. "Would you like to go outside for a  
walk?" he suggested. Got to get out of here ASAP!  
  
"That would be wonderful," Belldandy replied. "Then, I can explain  
why I'm here." And none too soon. My time is running out.  
  
They crossed the stream which ran beside the inn and started up out  
of the small valley it formed, towards the plain called Antelope  
Flats. The air held an uncharacteristic nip for this early in the  
Fall. Another record-breaking cold winter on the way, Eric  
suspected.  
  
"We need your help, Eric," Belldandy said.  
  
"Yeah, I remember you said that. What kind of help?" He attempted  
to appear nonchalant.  
  
"To put it simply, we need you to help us save Yggdrasil."  
  
"Yggdrasil? Yggdrasil..." Now, where have I heard that name?  
  
[Yggdrasil was the world tree in Norse mythology.]  
  
Yeah, that's right, it was a huge ash tree. Wait a minute, they  
want me to save a tree!?  
  
"Yes, in a sense. The Almighty One has sent me..."  
  
Huh!? Ah, what the heck if she can read my mind.  
  
"...to convince you to come back with me to heaven."  
  
Eric stopped. "Hold on a minute. 'Heaven', 'goddesses', the  
'Almighty One'? You're going a little bit fast here for me."  
  
"I know this may be hard to take in all at once, but all that exists  
will be in grave danger should Yggdrasil continue to fail,"  
Belldandy continued. "This planet has felt the effects, but all of  
the universe and beyond is at stake, here."  
  
"Whoa, wait a minute! I'm not a tree surgeon, I'm a computer  
programmer! I'm having a hard time believing that the fate of the  
universe is really depending upon me."  
  
Belldandy smiled sweetly. "Yggdrasil is a computer. It is the  
computer that runs reality. My sisters maintain it."  
  
"Sisters?" Now I remember. I used to love this stuff. Let's see,  
now. Yggdrasil was tended by the Norns, and the Norns were Urd,  
Verdandi... Belldandy. Whoa.  
  
"That would be Urd and Skuld?" Eric's voice was suddenly hoarse.  
  
Belldandy brightened considerably at this. "Yes."  
  
"And you're telling me that you are Verdandi."  
  
"Not the Verdandi you're thinking of, but yes, I am her."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Though I prefer Belldandy, now."  
  
She's not that her, but she's still her... ah, forget it. I'll go  
crazy trying to figure it out.  
  
A look of deep concern filled Belldandy's eyes. "I know this must  
be hard for you, Eric, but you must believe me. The fate of Earth,  
the universe, even Heaven depends upon it."  
  
Eric laughed nervously. "Nothing like having the fate of the  
universe hanging on your willingness to believe the impossible."  
  
Belldandy didn't answer.  
  
"Look," he turned to her, "you have to admit all this sounds  
crazy..." his voice faltered as something in her eyes captured him.  
  
He tore his gaze away and began walking. She followed.  
  
Wow, Eric thought, she looks so sincere I feel like a bastard just  
questioning her. "You know, young man meets beautiful girl, gets  
chance to save the universe. That's a very old cliche."  
  
"That doesn't mean it isn't true."  
  
"Look, Belldandy, you don't know how much a part of me would love to  
believe you. Heck, I've felt from the beginning that I belong on  
this mission of yours. I mean it's obvious you're not from this  
solar system, and it seems you've gone to a lot of trouble to find  
me, but... I really don't believe in Norns, Yggdrasil, any of it."  
  
"That's all right, I won't disappear just because you don't believe  
in me," Belldandy smiled warmly.  
  
Eric sighed. "Touche'." He found himself lost again in those eyes.  
A warm feeling of joy at her presence was enveloping him.  
  
"So," he asked, trying to sound more in control of himself than he  
felt, "do I have a choice about this?"  
  
"We need your cooperation, Eric," Belldandy eyes were pleading. "I  
won't force you."  
  
Then please don't look at me like that again! Eric once more  
diverted his gaze away from the sincerity in her face. What is it  
about her? I've never felt this way around anyone before.  
  
"Eric, please believe how important this is to us. The Almighty  
wouldn't have chosen you if he didn't think you were able to help  
us."  
  
"Yeah, that's another thing," Eric faced her again. "About this  
'Almighty' stuff. God shouldn't need my help. For that matter, God  
shouldn't need a computer to run the universe. What does the  
'Almighty' need with an ordinary computer programmer? Why doesn't  
he just wave his hand and fix the darn thing himself?"  
  
"There are several things you don't understand now, but by helping  
us you will have the chance to learn things you would never know  
otherwise."  
  
"That's hardly an answer to my question." Eric pretended to ignore  
the offer. "And besides, aren't you mixing religions? I mean, what  
does God have to do with the Norns and Yggdrasil?" Why am I  
fighting her? I should just give in now, but I wish I knew why it's  
so important that I go with her. I hate being railroaded, even when  
I'm helping to railroad myself.  
  
"I'm sorry you don't believe me, but I don't have time to convince  
you here."  
  
"Oh? Exactly how much time do you have?"  
  
"Two hours, twenty-three minutes."  
  
"Until the end of the universe!!?" Eric's eyes grew wide.  
  
"No, until I have to return to heaven."  
  
Eric let out a sigh of relief. "OK, then... well, I give. If the  
universe really is hanging in the balance, what does my opinion  
count for?"  
  
"Every being, no matter how small, counts."  
  
"You say the nicest things, you know that?" They started walking  
again through the knee high sage brush.  
  
"You have to wonder at the names some places have," Eric suddenly  
felt the need to change the subject. "Sometime, centuries ago, there  
must have been a lot of antelope here on Antelope Flats, but I've  
rarely seen one anywhere near the place. Still, it's a convenient  
spot to gather your thoughts. No distractions, just miles of sage  
brush." A dry, twisted branch scratched against Eric's pant leg.  
  
"Oh, geez, I forgot you're wearing a skirt!" Eric suddenly realized  
as the spiky limbs of another sage brush whipped his jeans.  
  
"Oh, I don't mind," Belldandy replied.  
  
"We can turn around now. You aren't dressed for this."  
  
"The sage brush don't usually welcome strangers, but they don't mind  
me."  
  
"Uh, are you saying that sage brush can think?" Eric looked  
doubtfully at the scraggly grey bushes.  
  
"Everything has its spirit."  
  
"Uh, yeah." They're just sage brush, for heaven's sake!  
  
"It's beautiful, here," Belldandy said, wistfully. Her hands were  
clasped behind her back as they continued strolling through the  
brush.  
  
Eric noticed that, indeed, the light weight material of her skirt  
seemed to catch on nothing. Maybe there was something to what she  
said, after all. Snapping back to reality, he replied "Uh, yeah,  
well, it certainly is beautiful in the summer with the mountains and  
the river. You should spend a winter here, though, then tell me how  
beautiful it is."  
  
"I'm sure the snow is wonderful."  
  
"For the first three or four months, sure, then it gets a little  
monotonous. There's only so much skiing and snowshoeing you can do.  
Then, in April it all melts and you have a month of mud."  
  
"You can't tell me you don't love it, though."  
  
"Yeah, well, I guess it's home, after all. So, tell me what it is  
exactly that I'm supposed to do?"  
  
"I don't know. The Almighty didn't give us any information other  
than that we were to find you."  
  
"Well, I hope it doesn't disappoint you when I say I have no idea  
what I might be able to do, either."  
  
"I'm sure you wouldn't have been selected if you weren't capable of  
helping us."  
  
"Yeah, I seem to remember you saying that before. OK, then, I know  
getting to save the universe is its own reward, but do I get some  
kind of fee? Sorry, but I'm a contractor."  
  
"Yes, you get a wish."  
  
"A wish?"  
  
"Yes, you are to be granted one wish in exchange for your services."  
  
"A wish. So, what if I fail?"  
  
"Yggdrasil will fail and won't be able to grant your wish."  
  
Eric chuckled. "That's worse than being paid in stock options!"  
  
"I suppose." Was it? Corporate finance was something Belldandy had  
never paid much attention to.  
  
"Not that it matters much, but what can I wish for?"  
  
"Almost anything," Belldandy replied. There was, of course, one  
wish which she wasn't about to let anyone make again! Not that the  
System had ever approved such a wish before or since that one time,  
but still. "Why do you say it doesn't matter much?"  
  
"Well, I don't know what I'd ask for, really. Like, say, could I  
wish for a billion dollars?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"The state of North Dakota?"  
  
"Yes, I suppose, but why?" Why would he want one of the states?  
  
"Hehe, just kidding about North Dakota." She can't think I was  
serious!? "How about wishing for more wishes?"  
  
"Sorry, but that wouldn't be accepted."  
  
"OK, then, how long do I have to decide?"  
  
"You must choose before we leave."  
  
"Fair enough." How long is that?  
  
[One hour, fifty-eight minutes.]  
  
"OK, then let's get down to business," Eric said. "Whom would I be  
working for?"  
  
"Well, the Almighty One, of course, but I suspect you will be under  
the supervision of my sisters."  
  
"Urd and Skuld?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why not you?"  
  
"I don't usually work in system administration. I'm only helping  
now because of the emergency. I'm usually in what you could call a  
field support office."  
  
"Oh, so that's why you were the one to come here."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Hmm." OK, Skuld was the dark, moody one. Working with her is  
going to be no cake walk, I can tell already. It might not be so  
bad with Urd there, though. She was wise and more or less kind, a  
real grandmotherly type, and I usually do OK with grandmotherly  
types. Besides, wasn't it Urd who thwarted the worst of Skuld's  
plans? I'll need to make sure I'm in good with her.  
  
He glanced at Belldandy who was staring at the Teton mountains, lost  
in her own thoughts. Yes, she could definitely be the beautiful,  
golden-haired Verdandi, the loyal and brave one.  
  
"This is such a wild, beautiful place," Belldandy said. "The  
mountains rise up like a wall to guard this valley. Such memories  
they must hold."  
  
"Yeah, they've been there a while."  
  
"The air is so thin, here. How high are we?"  
  
"About 2100 meters above sea level."  
  
"These mountains have such small foothills."  
  
"They aren't foothills, they're glacial moraines. The dirt pushed  
ahead of the glaciers as they came down from the mountains in the  
last ice age. When the glaciers retreated, they left the moraines."  
Why are we talking geology?  
  
"Then Blacktail Butte is a moraine? It's so much bigger than the  
others."  
  
"No, it's a fault block, like the mountains themselves. Why all the  
questions?"  
  
"I miss it. I lived here on the earth, once. It was such a happy  
time for us! Eric, may I ask you a personal question?"  
  
"Uh, sure, why not?" 'Us?' Does she mean her sisters? No, she's  
wearing a ring. Why would a Norn be married?  
  
"Why does such a skeptical person trust so much in intuition?"  
  
"Oh? Ah, yeah, well... caught me off guard, there!" She must have  
noticed my interest in her ring. Well, if I can't trust her, this  
whole project is doomed. "OK, this is going to sound silly, but I  
trust my hunches because they almost always work out. I don't  
always have them, but when I do they're right on the money."  
  
Belldandy looked up at Eric again. "Oh? Like clairvoyance,  
precognition?"  
  
"Nothing that specific. Just hunches, intuitions, ideas."  
  
"Hmm. That seems very strange."  
  
"I've always thought so. Being such a skeptical sort, you know."  
  
"Oh, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings!"  
  
"Nah, you're right, after all. Besides, my ego is solid enough to  
take lots of abuse!"  
  
"You are very self-assured, but you also seem caring to me."  
  
"Oh? That must be my caring, belligerent side."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Uh, that was supposed to be a joke."  
  
"Oh, now I understand. May I ask you another personal question?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Is your intuition telling you something right now?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah," Eric paused. "It's telling me that I'd better let you lead  
me on this wild goose chase."  
  
Belldandy's face lit up with a delighted smile.  
  
Eric smiled back. How could I have ever done anything to darken  
that face with doubt?  
  
[It is time to return if you are going to pack,] his AI reminded  
him.  
  
"I really hate to spoil this walk," Eric said, "but if I'm going to  
get ready it's time we headed back."  
  
A few minutes later, they had crossed back over the creek and were  
heading up to the inn.  
  
"So, do you have much experience with computers?" Belldandy asked.  
  
Eric frowned slightly. "Yes, but I doubt that's going to help much,  
here. If your computers are much like ours, I'm going to be  
terribly disappointed. The key to this, I think, is that I have yet  
to meet a computer I couldn't program within a couple of hours."  
  
"Even systems you've never seen before?"  
  
"Yeah. Don't ask me how it works, but that's the only reason I can  
think of why I'd be picked for something like this."  
  
"You mean this intuition you have?"  
  
"Uh huh. Solutions just pop into my head and they work. I'm sorry,  
but I really can't explain it."  
  
"Still, I would have been surprised if Almighty had chosen an  
ordinary mortal."  
  
"Yeah, I've never considered myself ordinary. Just curious,  
Belldandy, but does Yggdrasil look at all like a tree?"  
  
"In a way, I suppose. We could make it appear to you as a tree if  
you prefer. Your interaction with the system will likely have to be  
through 3-dimensional representations. Yggdrasil is multi-  
dimensional so you can't perceive it directly in 3-space. Skuld is  
building an interface device which will allow a 3- dimensional being  
such as yourself to access system functions."  
  
"Is that really necessary?" The thought of working with a device  
created by the enigmatic Skuld, prone to destroy her sisters' and  
even her own creations, made Eric more than a little anxious.  
  
"Skuld is very talented at making devices."  
  
"OK, I'll take your word for it."  
  
"Please don't be afraid, you will be perfectly safe. There is much  
you don't know, yet. On the other hand, you yourself are something  
of an enigma, Eric Donovan."  
  
"You're saying I'm strange?"  
  
"I mean no offense."  
  
"None taken. I've been the strangest person I know for as long as I  
can remember."  
  
"Yet you have confidence in yourself."  
  
"Well," Eric blushed a little in embarrassment, "maybe I'm cocky  
right now, but honestly I suspect I'll be way out of my league  
working on the kind of computer system you must have."  
  
"I have faith in you."  
  
"Thanks. I wish I shared your sentiment deep down."  
  
They approached the lodge.  
  
"Tell me about yourself, your family," Belldandy suggested.  
  
Eric chuckled. "This'll be short, because I don't have any. I've  
never been able to find my biological parents, and believe me I've  
tried. The Schefflers don't have any children of their own, so they  
sort of adopted me. I have an apartment in Berkeley, but you're  
right about this old lodge being 'Home' to me."  
  
-----  
  
"You're sure she won't mind?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"Mind!?" Eric said in an exaggerated tone as they walked around to  
the front porch. "Why, my dear lady, Mrs. Scheffler will be  
overjoyed to see me eating two meals in a row in the company of a  
beautiful young woman, even a married one."  
  
Belldandy looked down at the ring on her left hand. The memories it  
evoked brought a wistful look of joy to her face. Closing her eyes  
for a moment, she uttered a silent prayer that her life with Keiichi  
might some day return to simpler times like those.  
  
While Belldandy was involved in her memories, Eric began concocting  
what he hoped was a reasonable story to explain this morning.  
  
When Belldandy had returned to the present, he began explaining it  
to her.  
  
"Oh, but I couldn't lie!" Belldandy suddenly exclaimed.  
  
"What?" Great, a goddess with a hyperactive conscience! "Well,  
don't worry, I can do all the talking. Besides, we won't really be  
lying, we just won't be giving out all of the details."  
  
"Now you're beginning to sound like my sister, Urd."  
  
"Oh? I always figured Urd would be the straight arrow type."  
  
Belldandy gave him a surprised look.  
  
With all the guests gone upon the day's excursions, lunches were a  
much quieter affair than breakfasts at the Blacktail B&B.  
  
"Ah, Eric, you're back!" Mrs. Scheffler greeted them as they came  
in the front door. "Is this is the young lady who joined us for  
breakfast and whose voice I heard from your room this morning?"  
  
Aack! "Y-yes, yes, she is. I, uh, had her on speakerphone! Mrs.  
Scheffler, this is Belldandy. She has a systems project I'll be  
working on."  
  
"Oh? Well, I'm very pleased to meet you, Belldandy" Mrs. Scheffler  
said. "Won't you join us for lunch?"  
  
"Thank you, you are very kind," Belldandy replied.  
  
"Oh, nothing of the sort! A friend of Eric's is a friend of ours.  
Why don't you come into the kitchen and wash up for the meal? Eric,  
could you help me with setting the table?"  
  
"I would be glad to help also," Belldandy offered, starting for the  
kitchen.  
  
Eric's protest was drowned out by a "Well, thank you, dear," from  
Mrs. Scheffler.  
  
Uh-oh, I'd hoped to keep the two of them apart, Eric worried. He  
needn't have.  
  
"What a lovely kitchen!" Belldandy exclaimed in joyful surprise as  
she entered. "It's so large and airy, and what a wonderful view!"  
  
With that, Belldandy and Mrs. Scheffler immediately launched into  
animated conversation about the finer points of cooking, leaving  
Eric to play busboy.  
  
Well, I guess that's a safe enough subject, Eric decided, but where  
had someone like Belldandy learned so much about cooking?  
  
Lunch progressed more smoothly than Eric could have hoped for.  
Belldandy had an encyclopedic knowledge of cooking as well as life  
in Japan, though some of her information seemed dated. She was also  
very curious about life here. Eric exchanged several glances with  
Mr. Scheffler who, as usual, had given thanks and then remained  
quiet throughout the meal.  
  
Toward the end Mrs. Scheffler gave Eric an approving look, one he  
had no trouble guessing the meaning of.  
  
"She's married, mother." Eric hoped a preemptive strike would  
deflect most of the more embarrassing questions which were sure to  
follow.  
  
Belldandy smiled as she looked from Eric to Mrs. Scheffler.  
  
"He only calls me that when he thinks I'm being too nosy," Mrs.  
Scheffler replied as she fixed Eric with another of _those_ looks  
accompanied by a knowing smile.  
  
Eric jumped into the conversation. "To get this discussion back on  
track, Belldandy is here to offer me a consulting job, nothing more.  
Isn't that correct, Belldandy?"  
  
Belldandy nodded, but Eric knew he wasn't getting away that easily.  
  
Mrs. Scheffler turned her attention back to Belldandy. "Still, he's  
spent more time with you this morning than I've ever seen him spend  
in the presence of an attractive young woman. It's an encouraging  
sign."  
  
Belldandy gave Eric a puzzled look. "Surely you don't have trouble  
getting a girlfriend?" she asked. This was too much like deja vu.  
  
Eric blushed furiously. "Well, not exactly..." I'm doomed.  
  
"What he means is that he runs whenever a beautiful girl gets near  
him," Mrs. Scheffler explained. "He really is a nice young man,  
though, even if he is lacking somewhat in social graces."  
  
"I have plenty of friends who are girls," Eric protested. "I'm just  
not ready to get married, yet."  
  
"Who said anything about marriage? If you would just ask one of  
them out on a date..."  
  
"Tallea, leave Eric alone," Mr. Scheffler uttered his first  
conversational words of the meal, then began to get up. "Now,  
please excuse me. I must get back to work on the furnace." As he  
turned to leave, he shot Eric a glance that said 'Good luck!'  
  
'Coward!' Eric shot at the retreating back.  
  
Fortunately, the conversation changed topic and nothing catastrophic  
occurred for the rest of the meal.  
  
Afterwards, Eric brought Belldandy back to his room.  
  
"Well, what should I pack?"  
  
"There is no need. We can make you any items you want."  
  
"Oh, yeah, the shower curtain. Can you really manipulate matter on  
a molecular level?"  
  
"Of course. I am a goddess, after all."  
  
"I'm beginning to believe it. OK, I'll still need a toilet kit,  
though, unless you know how to make shavers and stuff." He noticed  
the razor he had used that morning. Never again!  
  
"Skuld is wonderful at making mechanical devices."  
  
"Oh, yeah." Maybe it's time I started growing a beard?  
  
That reminded him of the shaving mirror which had started this whole  
adventure. "Do you need a mirror to get us back to Heaven?"  
  
"It's easier if I have a medium, especially since I'll have a  
passenger."  
  
"There's a full-length one on the back side of the closet door."  
  
"That will be perfect. Before we go, though, remember that you  
still haven't made your wish."  
  
"Oh yeah, right!" Eric thought for a moment. "What should I wish  
for? I have or can make all the money I need, I have plenty of  
friends, my life certainly isn't boring - especially not lately."  
He smiled at Belldandy. "This is going to take some thought."  
  
He pulled a suitcase from under the bed and began to fill it. "Even  
if I'm not going to take anything, I'll still need to put all this  
away so the Schefflers can rent the room."  
  
When everything was packed, he turned to Belldandy again. "I need  
to stick this in the car. You want to come with me?"  
  
"Yes, of course."  
  
Eric led them out into the parking lot. "It just occurred to me  
that it's going to look strange if we disappear from my room. Can  
you take us through the mirror on the car, here?"  
  
"Yes, of course. The size of the mirror doesn't really matter."  
  
Tell the car to return to Berkeley once we're gone, Eric told his  
AI.  
  
[Done.]  
  
Eric looked past the garage and out over the stream, in the  
direction in which they had walked that morning. "I really can't  
think of anything I need," he said.  
  
"Surely you must earnestly desire something. Try to think of what  
would make you happy." Belldandy suggested.  
  
"You always cut right to the heart of the matter, don't you? I have  
or can get almost anything I want, but I'm still not really  
satisfied. Most guys would trade places with me in a heartbeat.  
Why aren't I happy?" He shut the lid on the car's trunk.  
  
"I'm afraid I can't grant you happiness."  
  
"Yeah, I didn't think so. Well, I could wish for world peace, but  
one person's peace is another person's oppression or anarchy."  
  
"Wisely said."  
  
"We've been having lots of natural disasters, lately..."  
  
"Those are largely a result of Yggdrasil's current condition. If  
you are successful in restoring Yggdrasil, that will take care of  
the natural disasters. Try wishing for something from your heart."  
  
"So, it has to be something personal, but nothing too earth-  
shattering." Bad pun, Eric. "There's always been that thing about  
finding who my blood kin are, or at least finding out who they were,  
if there aren't any left. Hmm, you know, now that I think about it,  
that's it."  
  
Eric turned to Belldandy. "OK, I've decided."  
  
"Good! What do you wish for?"  
  
"I wish I knew who I was. That shouldn't be too difficult to...  
hey, are you all right?"  
  
Belldandy's eyes had become glowing pools of light. A low, ominous  
hum began building from nowhere and everywhere at once.  
  
"Uh oh." What happened? Did I just send her into overload? Cause  
a divide-by-zero error in that computer, Yggdrasil? Am I about to  
die?  
  
That's when all heck broke loose. Belldandy's body was rigid as she  
rose off of the parking lot. Her face inclined to the heavens and  
the mark on her forehead shone incredibly bright. An instant later,  
a brilliant beam shot skyward from the mark.  
  
"That's not a tattoo, that's some kind of I/O device!" Eric's voice  
was drowned out as his eyes followed the beam up into a sky which  
had suddenly taken on a very ominous look.  
  
Should I be running for cover? Eric wondered as leaves, twigs, and  
anything else lying about began to swirl around.  
  
A moment later, an answering pulse rode down the beam and things  
returned more or less to normal.  
  
"Are you all right?" Eric asked, catching the goddess as she  
collapsed.  
  
Belldandy had a radiant look in her eyes. "Your wish has been  
approved."  
  
"Really?" Eric looked skyward. "Was all that normal? I mean, I  
hope I didn't make this much of a mess up there, too," he said,  
trying for a little levity as he turned his attention to the debris  
strewn around them.  
  
At that moment, Mr. Scheffler came running around the corner of the  
building. "Ah, Eric, what was that? I was in the furnace room, and  
suddenly it sounds like a thunder storm out here!"  
  
"Yeah, it was kind of wild for a minute or so."  
  
"So, what was it? Was she hurt?"  
  
"She's fine, just dazed a little. Things just started swirling  
around. Probably just a dust devil or something."  
  
"That is fortunate that nobody was injured. I must check on  
Tallea," he said then began running back to the lodge.  
  
Eric looked at Belldandy. "Is it always this spectacular when you  
grant a wish?"  
  
"It's even more so when I'm indoors," Belldandy replied.  
  
Eric looked up into the heavens which now appeared perfectly normal.  
"Yeah, I can imagine it is."  
  
-----  
  
End of Chapter 1  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
This fic is a fusion of Norse mythology and OMG. "But wait," you  
say, "isn't OMG already based on Norse mythology?" Well yes, it is,  
but the degree of that connection is debatable. This fic assumes  
that they occupy the same timeline, which is certainly possible  
canonically. Unlike most Norse/OMG fusions, though, in instances  
where OMG canon is applicable this fic will remain true to OMG. The  
tone of this fic will stay as close as possible to Fujishima's  
original.  
  
If the synopsis of Norse mythology at the beginning of the chapter  
seems a little strange, that's because it is. While the first 4  
paragraphs follow one of the major interpretations of Norse  
mythology, the last 2 are a possible mechanism to get from Norse  
mythology to AMG. Reincarnation of gods/demons with consequent  
suppression of memory and personality is mentioned in manga chapter  
134.  
  
Why is Skuld still in her teens? Since this fic is based on the  
manga rather than the OAV, the goddesses do age but are for all  
intents and purposes immortal. I assume that the rebirth of the  
pantheon began about the time that worship of the Norse gods ceased,  
about 1,000AD. Using Urd's age as a ruler and assuming she was  
reborn immediately, we see that Urd has apparently aged 25 years in  
the past 1,000 of our years, a ratio of 1 to 40. This is, I admit,  
an arbitrary figure, but it has the advantage of being the least  
arbitrary one. Anyway, given the approx. 160 years between Keiichi's  
college years and the time of this story, the goddesses should  
appear 4 years older than they did at the beginning of OMG. That  
puts Belldandy at 25 and Skuld at 16. Urd remains apparently 25  
because Norse gods had the ability, through the apples of Idunn, to  
effectively cease aging when they reached adulthood. Deity aging in  
OMG is controlled by Yggdrasil, but I'm assuming a similar effect as  
with Idunn's apples. 


	2. Close Encounters

"Born Again"  
  
Chapter 2   
"Close Encounters"  
  
By Brian Welch   
bwelchz7@yahoo.com  
  
Based on the manga Aa! Megami-sama   
(Ah! My Goddess!/Oh My Goddess!)  
  
The wonderful world of Aa! Megami-sama was created by Kosuke   
Fujishima. Aa! Megami-sama/Oh My Goddess! characters are copyright   
Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo, Studio Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc.  
  
-----  
  
Relief Goddess Office, Heaven  
  
-----  
  
"Whoa!" Eric grabbed onto Belldandy as they materialized in mid air.  
  
"It's OK, I won't let you fall," Belldandy reassured him, "You can  
let go of me, now."  
  
"Oh, sorry," Eric released his hold.  
  
Belldandy picked up something that looked like an ordinary telephone  
and dialed a number. "Hello, Skuld? We're here. We're going  
straight to the maintenance facility."  
  
After hanging up, she turned to Eric. "Come, we have to meet my  
sisters," Taking Eric's hands, she suddenly unfurled large, white  
wings.  
  
"Wow!" was all Eric could say.  
  
In a moment, they were soaring over what looked like something out  
of a fantasy novel. Islands of grass and trees, scattered with  
fanciful buildings, floated all around them.  
  
"This looks amazing! I didn't expect it to be so high tech," Eric  
marveled. Was I expecting the rustic wooden and stone lodges of  
Asgard?  
  
They were rapidly approaching a tall, thin structure which rose  
through the cloud cover and out of sight. I suppose, with a little  
imagination, that could be the World Tree, he decided.  
  
Belldandy didn't pause as they flew inside. Upon landing, her wings  
shrank back into her shoulders and she led Eric into a large room.  
  
Eric looked around.  
  
"Wow." I'm saying that a lot, lately.  
  
A chair floated high in the room above a ring of what had to be,  
given their anxious expressions and cramped conditions, about a  
dozen computer operators.  
  
That's right, I remember there were bunches of Disir, kind of acting  
as lesser Norns. Could these be some of them?  
  
In the floating chair sat a figure with long white hair. Though he  
couldn't make out many details from where he stood, Eric knew it  
must be the great Urd, the eldest and wisest of the Norns, the one  
whose name itself means destiny.  
  
I'm about to receive the biggest honor of my life.  
  
"Urd!" Belldandy called out.  
  
"Glad to see you made it safely," came the reply.  
  
"I need to talk with you, so come down here now!" Belldandy's voice  
held an uncharacteristic edge.  
  
Eric mentally prepared himself to make a proper greeting to the  
eldest Norn. Better to err on the side of formality, he decided.  
  
"OK, OK, so what's the emergency? I have a couple subsystems about  
to die on me," Urd griped as she landed before them.  
  
Halfway into a formal bow, Eric froze. Something was terribly  
wrong. Standing in front of him was a full 180cm of deeply tanned,  
emerald- eyed, platinum-haired bombshell. Moreover, in contrast to  
Belldandy's simple elegance, this woman's outfit was clearly  
designed to showcase an ample figure.  
  
I must have made a mistake. Surely, Belldandy didn't say this woman  
was Urd!?  
  
"Sister, I trust this was simply an honest mistake," Belldandy  
interrupted Eric's thoughts, "but that mirror you sent me to was in  
Eric's shower!"  
  
"Huh? His shower!? Bwa-ha-ha-- Uh oh." Oh, geez, am I in trouble  
again? This isn't fair!  
  
How do I get out of this? "Uh, shower? Really? Ah, well, you  
know, bathrooms are one of the logical places to find a mirror."  
Urd put on a disarming smile and started smoothing the back of her  
hair.  
  
"While he was in it!"  
  
Urd's eyes widened.  
  
"Now, wait a minute!" Urd protested. "How was I supposed to know  
something like that? I told you the resolution was awful!"  
  
Eric's mind was going numb from the sense of disillusionment pouring  
over him as he listened to the exchange between the goddesses. I  
really set myself up, this time. I must have desperately wanted to  
believe the story, that these people might actually be the Norns,  
that I might be playing the role of a hero to the avatars of  
destiny, fighting for the survival of creation against the forces of  
chaos. But everything here is twisted, just a mockery of what it  
should be.  
  
Having come up with a viable explanation for the snafu, Urd for the  
first time noticed the look of confusion and profound  
disappointment, almost grief, on the young man's face as he stared  
at her.  
  
She cocked a thumb at Eric. "Is this the guy all the fuss is  
about?" Yeah, a way to change the subject! Besides, what's wrong  
with him? Could he be brain damaged, or maybe he's gay?  
  
"Don't try to change the subject," Belldandy said.  
  
Doh!  
  
Belldandy stared critically at Urd, weighing her sister's previous  
explanation and her current look of contrition. "Well, as long as  
it was just an honest mistake..."  
  
"Honest! It was a mistake! Just one of those things, ya know?"  
  
This whining air head is definitely not _the_ Urd, Eric concluded.  
  
Fortunately, an interruption occurred before the situation could  
degenerate further.  
  
"Belldandy!" called a male voice.  
  
"Keiichi!" Belldandy whirled and rushed to wrap her love in a fierce  
hug.  
  
Eric watched the exchange with interest. Something told him this  
was the man who went with the ring. Was there a Norse deity by the  
name of Keiichi?  
  
[Negative, even allowing for differences in pronunciation.]  
  
He looks oriental...  
  
[Name and facial features suggest Japanese origin.]  
  
"Hi!" a new voice brought Eric out of his thoughts.  
  
He turned to see a raven-haired beauty who appeared to be in her  
late teens, holding a mallet of some kind over her shoulder.  
  
"I'm Skuld! Are you Eric Donovan?" she asked cheerfully, extending  
a gloved hand.  
  
"Ah, yes, I am," Eric replied, shaking hands. This is Skuld!?  
Well, what do you know?  
  
"Wow, you're big for a mortal," Skuld exclaimed, looking up into  
Eric's face.  
  
"Thanks," Eric smiled. I was definitely expecting someone more  
ominous than this charming young lady! Perhaps all the differences  
haven't been for the worse, after all.  
  
"So, this really is _the_ Eric Donovan? Funny, he certainly doesn't  
look like a computer genius," Urd looked Eric up and down.  
"Belldandy, are you sure you got the right one?"  
  
"Urd, honestly!" Belldandy admonished.  
  
"Just checking. He looks more like a sports jock than a computer  
jock, you know."  
  
"What does that have to do with it?" Skuld asked.  
  
"I was talking to your sister."  
  
"Just because he isn't drooling all over you, you think he's  
incompetent? Ha! It just means he has good taste, that's all!"  
  
"Can it, kid, nobody asked you!"  
  
"You're just mad because he sees you for the arrogant, selfish,  
violent, pushy--"  
  
"I said, SHUT UP!"  
  
"...impulsive, stupid person you really are!"  
  
"That's it! I'm going to teach you a little respect for your  
elders!"  
  
Urd raised her hand in the air. Something very bright sizzled in  
it.  
  
Skuld muttered something and reached into her blouse, pulling out an  
object Eric couldn't identify, but which made him very nervous  
nonetheless. The air in front of her began to glow.  
  
Eric noticed Keiichi was looking for cover and decided to join him.  
  
"STOP IT!!!" Belldandy ordered in a voice that seemed to come from  
everywhere at once.  
  
Everyone in the room, the two quarreling sisters, the two retreating  
men, and the pit full of computer operators froze and looked to  
Belldandy. "Don't either of you dare do this!" she addressed her  
sisters. "We need to save our energies for this crisis, not waste  
them on stupid arguments."  
  
Skuld was the first to back down. "Sorry, Sis, I was just trying to  
defend Eric."  
  
"You were picking a fight with your sister," Belldandy corrected.  
She turned to Urd. "Well?"  
  
"OK, OK, so I was a little rough on the guy. He still doesn't look  
like much of a genius, though."  
  
"I think you will find that there's much more to him than meets the  
eye."  
  
Belldandy looked from one sister to the other. "Now, you two make  
up."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"There, that's better." Belldandy was once again her cheerful self.  
  
"I never would have expected that from Belldandy," Eric said under  
his breath.  
  
"The crisis has put everyone on edge," Keiichi explained. "They  
haven't fought like this for years and years."  
  
"Oh. Well, if I can do anything to relieve that kind of tension  
from Belldandy, I'll do it."  
  
"By the way, I'm Keiichi Morisato." I'd heard there were some big  
people in Africa, but he's almost as big as Tamiya.  
  
"Eric Donovan, pleased to meet you."  
  
They shook hands.  
  
"Urd," Belldandy said, "remember that the Almighty said Eric is to  
have full access and our full cooperation."  
  
"Yeah, he called just after you left to 'remind' me of it. The  
problem is, I just don't have time right now. We've lost 3  
subsystems while we were busy keeping your link stabilized and 2  
more are going critical." Urd spread her hands in a gesture of  
helplessness.  
  
"That's OK, I can get him started!" Skuld offered. She took Eric's  
hand and began dragging him toward an exit.  
  
Belldandy and Keiichi began following Skuld and Eric.  
  
"Hey, if you see Peorth, tell her to get her tail over here and give  
me a hand," Urd called after them.  
  
"Where are we going?" Eric asked Skuld.  
  
"We're going to see Yggdrasil!" Skuld explained. "That's why you're  
here, right? You can watch us debug it. It'll be good experience."  
  
Keiichi placed a hand on Eric's shoulder. "Don't mind Urd. Like I  
said, we're all short tempered these days. Beside, Urd calms down as  
quickly as she blows up. You wouldn't believe how quickly she'd  
lose her temper when I first met her. Anyway, to change the  
subject, I think you'll find the methods we use for debugging to be  
very, ah, unconventional," Keiichi added with a grin.  
  
Eric stared at the mainframe as they entered the room. Whoa. I'm in  
waaaaaay over my head.  
  
This looked nothing like any computer he had ever imagined, and he  
had a hunch that what he was seeing was only the smallest fraction  
what was actually there. Something disturbed him about the picture,  
too. "What are those white things running around?" he asked.  
Several creatures that looked like multi-legged cartoon bunny  
rabbits were scampering around the mainframe. Despite looking  
harmless, there was something about them that gave Eric the creeps.  
  
"Those are bugs!" Skuld cried as she and Keiichi sprang into action.  
"We leave the system for five minutes, and look what happens!"  
  
"Bugs. Like... real bugs. I am definitely out of my league, here.  
Can I help?" he called out.  
  
"No!" Skuld shouted, madly swinging.  
  
"Just sit back and enjoy the show," Keiichi advised.  
  
"Well, it's about time you got back here, I'm being run ragged!"  
Peorth walked around from the other side of Yggdrasil, hammer in  
hand.  
  
"Whoa," Eric said. And I thought Urd dressed provocatively! Maybe  
she didn't have time to change from the swimming pool?  
  
"We'll take over, Peorth," Belldandy said as Peorth walked over.  
"Urd says she needs your help."  
  
"That's not surprising," Peorth said as her debugging hammer  
vanished. "However, first things first. I assume this is the  
wunderkind?"  
  
"Yes. Eric Donovan, this is goddess first class Peorth," Belldandy  
said.  
  
Don't screw this one up like you did with Urd. "I'm honored to meet  
you." Eric bowed deeply.  
  
"Oh my, so well mannered." Peorth returned the bow with a flourish  
then appraised Eric. "Mmm, tall, dark, handsome, and... the most  
amazing eyes. Belldandy, I see you're still collecting the most  
fascinating men. I don't mean to horn in on your harem, but didn't  
your mother ever tell you it was nice to share?"  
  
Belldandy blushed furiously, at a complete loss for words.  
  
"Hehe," Peorth chuckled. She's so fun to mess with. Still, it's the  
truth; the truly unique ones flock to her for some reason. Turning  
back to Eric, she said "It's a pity I'm called away now, but we  
shall meet again, cherie."  
  
Watching her go, Eric wasn't sure whether he should feel lucky or  
terrified. By the time his thoughts had returned to the matter at  
hand, Belldandy had already joined Skuld and Keiichi in the  
debugging.  
  
Eric watched the mayhem in stunned amazement. Wasn't all of this  
pounding a little rough on the hardware? He noticed that the "bugs"  
apparently left no trace once they were destroyed. That was a good  
thing, since otherwise the place would have been knee deep in  
pseudo- rabbit carcasses by this point.  
  
Once the population had been reduced to what must have been  
manageable levels Keiichi walked over to Eric. "Belldandy and Skuld  
have incredible stamina, but I need a breather now and then," he  
explained.  
  
"I was meaning to ask," Eric said, "what are all those things that  
look like pots lying around that suck in the bugs?"  
  
"Technically, they're highly modified rice cookers. In fact, Skuld  
made the first prototype from one of mine. She calls them bug  
zappers."  
  
"Oh. Now that you mention it, they do work that way, don't they?"  
  
"Yeah, but they don't get all the new ones. Skuld reprograms the  
zappers for the new bug types, but new kinds come along that are  
resistant." He held up his hammer. "None of them are resistant to  
manual debugging methods, though."  
  
"Any reason why bugs look like demented cartoon bunny rabbits?"  
  
Keiichi grinned. "I think it has something to do with having a very  
young goddess as chief debugger."  
  
"Ah, I see." Eric grinned back. "So, um, is this why I'm here, to  
help you get rid of these bug things?"  
  
"That sure would be great, though the Almighty wasn't too clear as  
to what your duties would be once you got here."  
  
"Just 'Save Yggdrasil'."  
  
"That's all I've ever heard," Keiichi answered. Poor guy, he's been  
dropped in here without a clue of what he's supposed to do or how to  
go about doing it.  
  
They watched the two goddesses at work for a couple more minutes.  
Eric could have sat there all day watching the show, and not only  
because it featured two breathtakingly beautiful women. The  
contrast in debugging styles was equally engaging.  
  
Skuld attacked the bugs like a berserker, hammer flying, and missing  
almost as many times as she made contact.  
  
Belldandy, on the other hand, stalked her bugs. That was the only  
word for it. Her method was calm and calculating, almost cold. She  
rarely took more than a single blow to take out a bug, and often  
would catch two at a time. There is definitely more than meets the  
eye to the cheerful, sunny Belldandy, Eric concluded.  
  
As far as Eric could see, the two methods were equally effective,  
and it made for very interesting viewing. After a few minutes,  
though, he realized something.  
  
A look at Keiichi verified his realization. "Do you mind if I ask a  
personal question?" Eric asked.  
  
"Huh?" Keiichi had also been wrapped up in watching the goddesses,  
or at least one of them. "Sure, I guess..."  
  
"I noticed that Belldandy, Skuld, Peorth and Urd have markings on  
their faces, but you don't. Are they a sign or rank or something?"  
  
"Yes, in a way. It's because they're goddesses. All gods and  
goddesses have them."  
  
"Then... you're not a god?"  
  
"No, I'm just an ordinary mortal guy who dialed the wrong phone  
number one day."  
  
"Oh? That sounds like the beginning to a fascinating story."  
  
"It's also a long one. I'll be glad to tell it to you sometime, but  
right now I need to get back to work."  
  
"Skuld, let me take over," Keiichi offered. "They seem to be under  
control, now."  
  
"Great! Thanks, Keiichi!" Skuld called as she came over to where  
Eric was standing. "You know, he's the best brother anyone could  
ask for."  
  
"He seems like a really nice guy. We were talking about those  
markings on your faces. Are they some kind of communications  
device?"  
  
"Sort of, they contain programs which connect us to Yggdrasil."  
  
"Oh. That explains what happened when I made my wish."  
  
"Yes, from what Sis tells me, it's a wonderful experience," Skuld  
sighed.  
  
Chaotic would be more like it from my point of view, Eric mentally  
quipped.  
  
"One of these days, when the system is working smoothly again and I  
get my First Class license, I'm going to request a temporary  
assignment to the Relief Goddess Office."  
  
"I liked your use of the word 'when'."  
  
Skuld smiled. "Urd thinks answering the telephones and granting  
wishes is boring, but I think it's wonderful. I can't wait."  
  
"What's the Relief Goddess Office?"  
  
"That's where Belldandy works. Worthy mortals call the office and  
Belldandy goes to Earth to grant them a wish."  
  
"Keiichi said he dialed a wrong number." Definitely sounds like a  
story worth waiting for the unabridged version.  
  
"Yes, he did, and Sis answered," Skuld sighed, again.  
  
"Wait a minute," Eric suddenly realized. "I never dialed a number!"  
  
"You're a special case. Belldandy was sent on a special mission to  
get you."  
  
"Which reminds me of why I'm here. How do I go about accessing the  
system? Belldandy said you were making something?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, I'll show it to you! Sis, I'm going to show Eric his  
terminal. I'll be back in a few minutes."  
  
"Have a good time!" Belldandy paused from stalking bugs and waved  
cheerfully.  
  
Skuld and Eric headed back towards Yggdrasil Maintenance.  
  
"Are we going back to where Urd works?" Eric asked warily.  
  
"Yes, but don't worry, her bark is worse than her bite."  
  
Skuld led Eric to a terminal nearly identical to the ones used by  
the Yggdrasil computer operators. It had been placed off to the  
side of the operators, upon a platform resting firmly in mid air. A  
series of similarly anchored steps led up to it. Eric looked down a  
little nervously as Skuld led him to the platform and showed him a  
headband.  
  
"Well, here it is!" Skuld said, obviously proud of her handiwork.  
"This is your link to the system. Isn't it beautiful? Since you're  
from 3-space, you're limited to perceiving in 3 dimensions. This  
includes an interpreter for higher order dimensions."  
  
"This isn't 3 dimensional space?" Eric asked, looking around.  
  
"Nope. Heaven is in 10-space, though not 10-space in your universe.  
We exist separately. Like I said, your perception is limited  
because we didn't have time to give you a 10-dimensional body, so  
you'll have to settle for this interface."  
  
Eric turned the headband over in his hands. "All that fits into  
this little thing?"  
  
"Amazing, isn't it?"  
  
"Amazing doesn't seem adequate, somehow." Eric toyed with the  
headband some more, then looked at Skuld. "Changing the subject,  
besides the bug zappers and hammers, do you have automatic debugging  
routines?"  
  
"Of course! The problem with the automatic routines, though, is  
that processing speed isn't fast enough to catch all of the bugs.  
Also, we need to constantly modify the routines for new bug types,  
just like we do for the zappers. There have been a bunch of new  
types lately, too. They'd overwhelm the system in no time if we  
didn't keep on our toes."  
  
"Well, that's sort of familiar. I've worked with auto- debugging  
routines in the past."  
  
"The concepts here should be similar to those used in your mortal  
systems."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"Before you start doing anything you need to know how things work.  
Sit here, put on the headband and I'll show you the terminal.  
  
Eric did as instructed. "Whoa!" He grabbed the terminal to steady  
himself.  
  
"Are you OK?" Skuld asked, grabbing Eric. "I may have the  
resolution set too high."  
  
He held up a hand, eyes tightly clenched. "It's all right, give me  
a second, here. I think it's clearing up a bit."  
  
"Your brain has to adjust to the increase in sensory information."  
  
"What does this headband do, exactly?" Eric asked, maintaining a  
death grip on the terminal.  
  
"It receives a feed of data from Yggdrasil and delivers a  
corresponding feed from your brain to Yggdrasil."  
  
"Directly to and from Yggdrasil?"  
  
"Yes. It functions similarly to our goddess markings."  
  
"You're kidding! Isn't that a little bit... dangerous?"  
  
"It has safeguards built in."  
  
"That's a relief." Eric loosened his grip on the terminal and  
opened his eyes. "OK, I think I'm getting a handle on this."  
  
"Good. Also, I used your existing AI's neurological interface, so  
it'll be offline while you're wearing the headband. Would you like  
me to show you how the terminal works?"  
  
"Sure. I'll just stop you if things get crazy again."  
  
Skuld began with basic functionality then moved into the programming  
environment. "Look here, then. You'll notice that most of  
Yggdrasil's programs are hyper- dimensional patterns."  
  
"One of these things?" Eric pointed.  
  
"Yes. You've never seen anything like this before, have you?"  
  
"I've heard theories, but you're right. I'm basically clueless as  
to what all this stuff means."  
  
Skuld sighed. Am I going to have to give him a remedial course in  
programming? I don't have the time! I need to get back to  
debugging! "OK, let's do this. Here's a basic template for a  
pattern. Now, imagine you want this template to, say, turn your  
environment blue. You need to modify the pattern like this. Then,  
we introduce the pattern into the screen definitions, and voila!"  
  
The terminal's screen turned blue.  
  
"OK now I see," Eric said.  
  
"You want to try it?"  
  
"Sure. Let's say I want a green screen. I take the pattern you  
just created, modify it like this, and..."  
  
The screen turned green.  
  
"Hey, you're a quick learner!"  
  
"Thanks, but may I make a suggestion? Could you point me in the  
direction of a debugging related program that I can play with?"  
  
"Sure," Skuld answered. She tapped at the terminal. "This is a  
working directory. You can mess with anything in here."  
  
"Perfect! What's this code?"  
  
"I was working on automating the updates for our debugging  
algorithms. The computer operators do that now, but it would be  
faster to have Yggdrasil do it."  
  
"So, this piece identifies the new bug signature and passes it to  
this piece which then loads the updates into the debugging  
routines?"  
  
Skuld looked at Eric. "That's the way it was going to work, yeah.  
How did you know?"  
  
"Would you believe me if I told you I guessed?"  
  
"Well, I don't think that you'd lie to me..."  
  
"I didn't. Would you mind if I tinkered with this program of  
yours?"  
  
"No, of course not. I haven't had time to finish it with all the  
problems we've been having."  
  
"Can I call you if I run into problems?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Great! Um, so how do I do that... call you, I mean?"  
  
Skuld tapped at the terminal for a couple seconds. An icon  
appeared. "Just press this. Do you really think you have a handle  
on this, though?"  
  
"There's one quick way to find out."  
  
"OK then, I'll leave you with it." Skuld's expression betrayed her  
puzzlement as she left.  
  
Eric watched Skuld leave, then noticed Urd and Peorth looking down  
at him. Urd's going to be keeping a close watch on me, he realized,  
but I've worked under these kinds of conditions before. It isn't  
anything I can't handle, even if it adds to the pressure.  
  
As for Peorth, why do I feel like a gazelle being watched by a  
lioness?  
  
-----  
  
Next Day  
  
-----  
  
A cheer went up from the computer operators. A couple of them waved  
at Skuld and Eric. Skuld gave an exaggerated bow, while Eric smiled  
and waved back hesitantly.  
  
"Well, the automated update module for the debugging routines  
appears to be functioning," Peorth said as she observed the scene  
below.  
  
"Wonderful, so he finished one of Skuld's scripts."  
  
"You know, Urd, you might want to give the boy a break," Peorth  
replied. "It's impressive enough that he was able to produce  
anything at all."  
  
"He isn't here to produce 'anything at all,' he's here to put this  
system back into working order. Do I need to remind you that we  
lost one of the auto stabilizers for the time control program this  
morning?"  
  
"He's been here one day, Urd."  
  
"..."  
  
"Well, at least he made the operators happy," Peorth said.  
  
Eric turned to Skuld "It wasn't that much, you had already done the  
hard part," he said. "All I did was to integrate it into the  
production system."  
  
"So? The important thing is that you were able to do it without us  
having to help you. Anything you do like that is a net gain for us,  
and you did make the operators' lives that much easier."  
  
"Thanks. It's a first step, at least. It's going to take a lot  
more than this, though, in order to fix this system." He looked up  
at where Urd and Peorth floated in their chairs. Urd's expression  
was unreadable. Peorth smiled and blew him a kiss.  
  
An image of a gazelle on the plains of Africa flashed through Eric's  
mind. He suddenly became engrossed in his terminal.  
  
"So..." Skuld looked at Eric. "How did you do it?"  
  
"Well," Eric took in a deep breath, "I have these... I'll call them  
hunches for lack of a better term. I'll be looking at a problem and  
I'll get this feeling that I should approach it this way, or use  
that tool."  
  
Eric looked at Skuld who looked back at him skeptically but said  
nothing.  
  
"OK, take this program I just finished. All I had to do was put a  
wrapper around the pieces you had already designed and then  
integrate it into the existing debugging structure. It's easy once  
you know where you want to put the code and what it has to interface  
with."  
  
"And... you're saying you just 'knew' what the wrapper should look  
like and where the resulting program should go?"  
  
"Exactly. I know it sounds silly, but that's the way it works for  
me. I can't explain how I get these ideas, they just come."  
  
"You've had these hunches before?"  
  
"For as long as I can remember."  
  
Skuld shook her head. "I'd love to talk about this more, but I have  
to get back to work. Do you need anything else from me right now?"  
I need to talk to someone about this.  
  
"Not at the moment. I'll call you if I run into a roadblock?"  
  
"I'll be here in a flash." Skuld patted Eric's shoulder before  
turning to leave. Sis brought him here, maybe she has a handle on  
this, she thought.  
  
At the Yggdrasil mainframe, Skuld walked over to where Belldandy and  
Keiichi were smashing bugs.  
  
"Eric's automation routine worked," she said as she pulled out her  
hammer and started in.  
  
"That's good news!" Keiichi said, hammering another bug.  
  
"Yes, that's wonderful," Belldandy added.  
  
"You know sis, when you told Urd there was more to that guy than met  
the eye? I just thought you were being nice."  
  
"There's something very different about him. I sensed it when I was  
on Earth."  
  
"Well, 'different' is an understatement. 'Impossible' is the word  
that comes to my mind."  
  
"Oh? Eric isn't being difficult, is he?"  
  
"No, I didn't mean it that way. He's great! Impossibly great!  
That's what I meant. Did he ever talk to you about getting hunches  
or about things just popping into his head?"  
  
"Oh, yes, he said that was one of the reasons he was such a good  
programmer. I think that may also be the reason the Almighty picked  
him. We all have our talents."  
  
"Just not quite as freaky as his. Still, he's a really nice guy. I  
like him."  
  
-----  
  
From her position below Urd and Peorth, Chrono called out "Time  
program has exceeded 5% deviation in alignment."  
  
"Urd, another one of the auto stabilizers for the time program is  
failing," Peorth said.  
  
"I'm on it," Urd replied, dropping what she had been doing. "Get  
ready to bring the axis back into tolerance manually if you have  
to."  
  
Skuld appeared next to Urd. "Urd, I need to talk to you."  
  
"Not now, can't you see I'm busy? We have to get this auto  
stabilizer back up pronto."  
  
"It's important, Urd!"  
  
"Fine, just give me a couple minutes here."  
  
Skuld looked down to where Eric sat engrossed in his terminal. I  
wonder what he's working on, now?  
  
"OK, the stabilizer is restarted. How's it holding, Chrono?"  
  
"Time axis is now 3% out of alignment... 2%... and holding."  
  
"Not perfect," Peorth said.  
  
"It'll have to do. Lock it down. So, Skuld, what's the big  
emergency?"  
  
"It's about Eric. You remember the software he wrote for the  
debugging routines?"  
  
Urd nodded impatiently.  
  
"Well, I asked him how he did it and he couldn't really tell me."  
Skuld paused, not sure how to go on.  
  
"I don't follow you," Urd said. "Are you saying he forgot what you  
told him about how to write a script?"  
  
"I didn't tell him anything. I had to get back to debugging and  
this morning he had it done."  
  
"Then who do you think showed him how to do it? Belldandy? Peorth?"  
  
"Hey," Peorth said. "Don't look at me!"  
  
"That's just it," Skuld said. "Nobody told him! He did it on his  
own."  
  
"Yeah, right. Somebody must have helped him."  
  
"You say he couldn't really tell you how, Skuld," Peorth  
interrupted. "So what _did_ he say?"  
  
"He said that he just knew what it had to look like and how it  
needed to fit into our debugging system."  
  
Urd looked at Peorth, who shrugged.  
  
"Maybe it's time we paid our Mr. Donovan a visit," Urd said.  
  
Eric stared at the pattern, mumbling to himself. "OK, if I modify  
this section and then link it to these two sections..." He examined  
his handiwork. "No, that's still not right. I need to make a  
change here, like... that?" He paused again, examining the program,  
then smiled. "Hey, I think I've done it!"  
  
"Done what?" Urd asked from over his shoulder.  
  
"Waah!" Eric jumped, missed his chair on the way down, and hit the  
floor. "Ow!" he staggered to his feet, rubbing his bruised rear  
end.  
  
Urd gave Eric an amused look. Peorth just stared.  
  
"Are you OK?" Skuld asked.  
  
"Yeah, I was just startled," Eric said.  
  
"What were you so excited about?" Urd asked.  
  
"Well, Skuld said that one of the problems you're having is that the  
processing speed of the debugging routines wasn't fast enough. I've  
just made a modification to the debugging routine engine which  
should speed things up a bit."  
  
"Oh?" Urd gave him an incredulous look.  
  
"Well, I'll need to test it, of course."  
  
"Of course. Skuld, Peorth, you wanna come over and give this a  
look?"  
  
The three goddesses gathered around the terminal.  
  
"Well, it looks something like the debugging routine," Skuld said.  
  
"What's this do?" Peorth pointed.  
  
"Damned if I know," Urd replied.  
  
"Can I run it?" Eric asked.  
  
"Looks harmless enough to me," Urd said. "What do you think,  
ladies?"  
  
"I trust him," Skuld said.  
  
"Peorth?"  
  
"Like you said, Urd, it looks harmless enough."  
  
"I'll start it up as a low priority process, just in case."  
  
"OK, then, _you_ run it," Eric glared.  
  
"Well, the lights are still on," Urd said after a few moments.  
"Let's bump it up a little. Donovan, does this thing write to the  
system logs?"  
  
"Just like the original. I didn't modify the logging."  
  
"OK, let's see if it's caught anything, yet." Urd brought up the  
log. "Well, it says it's caught a few, at least. No _reported_  
errors, either."  
  
"I didn't modify the error reporting mechanism from the original  
code," Eric said defensively.  
  
"Can't tell much about its efficiency at this level of priority,  
though." Urd ignored the tone. "I'm going to give it regular  
priority. Skuld, tell the operators to yank the plug if it goes  
haywire." Urd entered a couple commands.  
  
"OK, let's see how this goes," Urd rose from the terminal and  
brushed past Eric as she made her way to the computer operators.  
  
Peorth fell in behind Urd and Eric followed.  
  
Looking back over her shoulder, Peorth gave Eric an encouraging  
smile. "So far so good, eh?"  
  
"Yeah, so far." I wish I could have run it myself, though.  
  
"How's it running?" Urd asked as she walked up to Skuld.  
  
"It looks stable so far," Skuld replied, looking first at Urd then  
at Eric.  
  
Eric breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"You weren't fully confident in your handiwork?" Peorth asked Eric.  
  
"It's more like this system is so foreign to me that I had no idea  
whether it would run at all, much less correctly."  
  
This brought stunned looks from the three goddesses as well as the  
entire crew of computer operators.  
  
"Hey," Eric shrugged, "I told you how this works for me."  
  
"You haven't told Peorth or me," Urd corrected.  
  
"Or us!" the operators chorused.  
  
"Oh, you're right, I forgot. Well, it sounds crazy, but--"  
  
"Hold up a minute," Urd interrupted. "Let's take this discussion  
elsewhere. I'm not sure everyone," she nodded towards the  
operators, "needs to hear what I think you're going to say."  
  
"Aa..." The operators looked disappointed.  
  
"Don't you have work to do?" Urd growled.  
  
"Yes, ma'am," they sighed and turned back to their terminals.  
  
"I think we'd better get Belldandy involved in this, too. Ex and  
Chrono, keep a close eye on that code," Urd added.  
  
Once they had arrived at the Yggdrasil mainframe, Urd called  
Belldandy over.  
  
"OK, let's hear it." Urd gave Eric a critical look, arms folded.  
  
Eric looked around at the four goddesses. "Belldandy and Skuld  
already know what I'm going to say. If it's any comfort to you,  
this sort of thing has happened to me before many times. Never on a  
system this advanced, though."  
  
"Quit stalling," Urd said.  
  
Eric glared back at her. "All right, then, I looked at the code and  
guessed at how I could improve it. In the case of the debugging  
routine, I wanted to make it run faster so I played with it a bit,  
trying different things until it looked right to me. I have no idea  
how it works, but I knew what it had to look like in order to be as  
efficient as possible, so I changed it to look like that." Chew on  
that one, 'Miss system administrator'!  
  
Well, Urd smirked, so he does have some spine in him, after all!  
"So you're saying you just knew what the program needed to look  
like?"  
  
"That's what I'm saying. I had a feeling, a hunch, whatever, that  
it needed to look a certain way."  
  
"That's crazy."  
  
"It works."  
  
Belldandy interrupted the stand-off. "Eric told me about his  
hunches while we were on Earth. Almost from the moment I appeared,  
I knew he could somehow sense the importance of my being there."  
  
Urd tapped a floating panel. "Ex, how's that new debugging routine  
working?"  
  
"Well," came the reply, "the sample size is still small, but the new  
routine appears to be catching over 30% more bugs than the standard  
program."  
  
"Yes!" Eric cried.  
  
"Replacing one instance of the routine isn't going to have much of  
an impact," Skuld said. "We'll need to introduce it system wide."  
  
"We'll test it on a couple minor subsystems first," Urd countered.  
"We don't know what kinds of effect it may have when massed."  
  
"Um, I could use a hand over here as soon as you're done," Keiichi's  
voice called from the mainframe.  
  
"Coming, Keiichi," Belldandy replied and left the group.  
  
"We need all the help we can get, Urd," Skuld argued.  
  
"She's got a point," Peorth added. "We may not be able to afford a  
standard testing period."  
  
"So, it'll be a short test," Urd said.  
  
"Do you feel it's ready to go into production, Eric?" Skuld asked.  
  
"Yes, I do."  
  
"Then we can start the testing immediately. Right, Urd?"  
  
"You have a remarkable grasp of the obvious, Skuld."  
  
They exchanged glares then Skuld left to join Belldandy and Keiichi.  
  
-----  
  
Back in the Yggdrasil Maintenance Facility, Ex checked her  
indicators. "Overall debugging efficiency has increased 47% since  
the general incorporation of the new debugging engine!"  
  
"Hooray! I can feel those hot springs already!" Chrono cried.  
  
"Hot springs! Hot springs!" the operators chanted.  
  
Peorth looked down at them. "Hehe, that Chrono. Getting them worked  
up like this should improve their efficiency 50%."  
  
"Mmm," Urd replied.  
  
Peorth looked at Urd. "You know, this stress has been rough on all  
of us, but it's really taken a toll on you. Where's that madcap  
goddess who used to annoy me so much? You should be celebrating  
light at the end of the tunnel like the rest of us!"  
  
"Excuse me if I have bigger things to think about."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"If you can't see it already, you wouldn't understand."  
  
"You're still worked up about how Eric wrote that code? Fine, then,  
but as soon as we get all the systems back online I'm off to soak in  
a hot spring along with them," she nodded towards the operators.  
"You can stay here and angst all by yourself."  
  
"Doesn't it bother you at all?"  
  
"I don't understand it, but I'm not second-guessing the Almighty.  
If Eric is good enough for him, he's good enough for me."  
  
"The Almighty may have missed something. It isn't like he hasn't  
misjudged things before."  
  
"Show some respect, girl!" Sheesh, no wonder she's still a goddess  
second class!  
  
"Just making an observation."  
  
"Then I'll make one of my own. You need to educate that psychotic  
ex-boyfriend of yours. You're never going to be able to have any  
fun as long as he stalks every guy who comes near you. Of course,  
as stubborn as he is, you may just need to pound that sense into  
him."  
  
"I don't need love advice, and especially not from you."  
  
"He's a millstone around your neck, Urd. Dump the creep, and do it  
in no uncertain terms."  
  
"Hold things down here for a while, OK? I'm going to do a little  
investigating."  
  
Peorth sighed. "Sure, change the subject. I'll help you out this  
time, but don't think I'm going to do all your work for you."  
  
Urd left her chair and flew down to where Eric was working.  
  
Peorth watched her go and shook her head. "Such passion, what a  
waste."  
  
"Hey, Donovan, it looks like your code is working out," Urd said.  
  
"Yeah, I heard the announcement," Eric replied nodding his head at  
the operators then went back to staring at the terminal.  
  
"So what are your plans now that you've solved our problem?"  
  
Eric stopped and looked up. "You're playing with me, right? You  
can't really think I've solved anything long term. The root cause  
of the system problems still exists and will only get worse with  
time. Eventually the automated systems will again be overwhelmed."  
  
"I'm impressed. I was thinking you might be resting on your  
laurels." Urd leaned forward. "Now, how do you see us getting rid  
of the root problem?"  
  
"I don't know, yet. Nothing's coming to me."  
  
"Oh? I would have thought you would be well on your way to a  
solution by now."  
  
"I can't control it. My hunches either come or they don't, and this  
time they haven't."  
  
"So, the source of your insight has dried up, eh? Does it ever  
bother you? Do you ever wonder where these ideas of yours come  
from?"  
  
"I used to, but I gave up trying to figure it out. The best  
explanation I've been able to come up with is that I'm naturally  
intuitive. Sometimes I don't even know why I should do something.  
I just get a hunch out of the blue that I should take some action.  
No reason, just that I need to do something. When Belldandy came  
through that mirror, it scared the life out of me. I wasn't  
expecting that at all, but when she started talking I suddenly  
realized that I needed to do whatever she was going to ask me to  
do."  
  
"So it really isn't just about writing code. How long have you had  
these intuitions?"  
  
"As long as I can remember. When I was kid I was in some fights  
where I knew exactly what punch the other guy was going to throw."  
  
"Sounds kind of handy to me."  
  
"Most of the time. Sometimes it's been a real pain, getting me into  
situations I didn't want to be in."  
  
"Like this one?"  
  
"Yeah, like this one. Still, I feel like I need to stay here a  
while longer." A thought occurred to him. "Has the Almighty said  
that I should leave?"  
  
"Actually, the Almighty hasn't been too forthcoming as to why you  
were brought here or on how long you should stay," Urd replied. "He  
hasn't made a peep since you arrived."  
  
"Is he usually this enigmatic?"  
  
Urd grinned. "That's not a bad thing. The Almighty is one person  
you _don't_ want to hear from, Donovan, take my word for it."  
  
-----  
  
"You still have misgivings about Eric, Urd?" Belldandy asked as she  
stalked bugs.  
  
"Not serious misgivings, no. After all, if he had wanted to he  
could have probably destroyed the system by now."  
  
"You've always been suspicious of him," Skuld said. "Why can't you  
just accept the fact that he has done a wonderful job for us?  
Besides, the Almighty picked him!"  
  
"Why does everybody keep bringing up the Almighty? OK, I'll grant  
you that Donovan has done wonderful things. Still, what do you make  
of this intuition thing of his? It spooks me. Intuitions come from  
somewhere. So where are they coming from? What if someone or  
something is feeding him those ideas?"  
  
"Someone who knows more about Yggdrasil than you and Skuld do?"  
Belldandy asked.  
  
"Yeah, it's crazy. Still, whatever is driving these ideas he gets,  
it apparently does know a heck of a lot about Yggdrasil. Either  
that or he's been lying to us about the whole intuition thing and  
it's really him that knows so much."  
  
"His aura hasn't shown any signs of duplicity," Belldandy argued.  
  
"Yeah, so maybe he can falsify his aura?"  
  
"You're sounding paranoid, Urd," Skuld said.  
  
"Is it any worse than thinking somebody is feeding him instructions?  
Either way, it's worse than frustrating, it's either downright  
embarrassing or else chilling."  
  
Belldandy considered the implications of this. "Even though I  
haven't detected any trace of falsehood around him, some unknown  
force may be at work."  
  
"You got that right. That guy just reeks of the unknown. Anyway,  
now that we have some breathing room I'm working on fulfilling that  
wish of his. Hehe, I'm currently running a complete background  
check on the guy. It sure is nice being out of crisis mode and  
having higher level system functions available again, you know? In  
a couple of weeks, once we get the Ultimate Force back up and  
running, we can even bring the Goddess Offices back online."  
  
"I'm looking forward to that," Belldandy sighed.  
  
"So am I, Belldandy. I know how much you've missed working in the  
Relief Goddess Office all these years. The system problems have been  
hard on all of us, but at least the rest of us were more or less  
doing our regular jobs. Believe me, getting the Goddess Offices  
back up and running is a top priority for me. Besides," she added  
with a grin, "it'll mean that Peorth will finally be out of my  
hair!"  
  
-----  
  
"Thanks for coming, Skuld," Eric said.  
  
"Hey, I'm glad you called. Now that the debugging routines are  
handling so much of the load, I can finally give you some support."  
  
"You've been very supportive already. I couldn't have asked for  
more. The reason I called you is I want to ask a question. Have  
you ever heard of something called Nidhog?"  
  
Skuld was quiet a moment. "Yes..."  
  
"I was wondering about it. I can't find any reference to it, here."  
  
"It's the demons' computer system. It's the counterpart to  
Yggdrasil, in a sense."  
  
"A separate computer system!?" I was hoping it would be something  
more along the lines of an AI. This complicates things. "Are the  
two systems linked?"  
  
"To a degree. We aren't allowed to mess with each others systems,  
though."  
  
"Don't worry, I was just curious." I hate lying to her.  
  
"Oh, OK. What're you working on, now?"  
  
"I'm trying to discover the root cause of these errors in the  
system." That's true enough without giving anything away.  
  
"That's wonderful! Do you have any ideas where to look?"  
  
"Nope. I'm hoping something occurs to me."  
  
"One of those hunches of yours?"  
  
"Yeah. I'm hoping for a miracle of sorts," Eric gave her a wry  
grin.  
  
"So, this is where you sit and think until something comes to you,  
right?"  
  
"That's about the size of it."  
  
"Well, then, I'm going to help out Urd and Peorth. Let me know if I  
can be of help, I'll be right up there."  
  
"I'll be sure to do that."  
  
After Skuld had left, Eric turned to his terminal. "OK, we do this  
the hard way. Let's assume Yggdrasil and Nidhog are a virtual pair  
or some kind of a clustered configuration. That means I need to  
find the synchronization code or maybe a randomizer here. Where  
would that be? There must be some documentation somewhere on the  
system. Better start digging."  
  
Sitting in her command chair, Urd frowned at the search results  
displayed in front of her. Hmm, I need to talk with Belldandy about  
this. "Hey, Skuld, I'm going to go talk to Belldandy a bit. You're  
in charge."  
  
Urd walked up to the Yggdrasil Mainframe. "Hi, Belldandy, how's the  
debugging?"  
  
"Hello, Urd. Everything is under control," Belldandy smiled.  
  
"That's good news. I wish I could give you some. I've run an  
extremely thorough background check on Donovan."  
  
"Oh? What did you find?"  
  
"Nothing about his origins. There is no trace of him before he was  
three years old."  
  
"That's strange. Could the archive files be damaged?"  
  
"I've found some damage to the records, but it's a stretch to say  
it's extensive enough to destroy all traces of his existence before  
the age of 3. Besides, the rest of his file is intact as far as I  
can tell."  
  
Keiichi spoke up. "So you're saying he just popped into existence  
when he was three years old?"  
  
"I don't know what I'm saying. This is all very disturbing.  
Belldandy, did Eric mention anything about his childhood to you?"  
  
"Only that he has never been able to locate his parents."  
  
"Well, that kind of makes sense if he just popped into existence  
when he was three," Keiichi quipped.  
  
Urd just gave him an annoyed look.  
  
"Urd, does this mean we won't be able to grant his wish?" Belldandy  
asked.  
  
"His wish is the last thing I'm worried about. We have no idea who  
or what this guy is. That's what really bothers me."  
  
"Now, wait," Keiichi interjected. "What are you thinking, that Eric  
may not be mortal?"  
  
"To use your own reasoning, how many mortals do you know who just  
pop into existence when they're three years old?"  
  
"Maybe he's a clone?"  
  
"There'd still be a record of the cloning."  
  
"That poor boy," sighed Belldandy.  
  
-----  
  
End Chapter 2  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
Why is Urd 180cm tall? First of all, no self- respecting Norse  
deity would be caught dead at 170cm and less in height, the  
officially published heights of the goddesses. People grow tall in  
the Nordic countries, and it's hard to command respect from your  
worshippers when they're looking down at the top of your head. So,  
why is Belldandy 165cm tall in AMG? The easiest explanation is that  
she doesn't want to appear as a giantess to her client, Keiichi.  
Since the goddesses' 3-dimensional forms have to be generated anyway  
(goddesses are canonically at least 10- dimensional beings, normally  
undetectable to us), choosing an appropriate height for that form  
would be a simple matter. The immortals who arrive later naturally  
adjust their heights relative to the one(s) already there.  
  
Why is Keiichi still alive and why is he debugging Yggdrasil? Well,  
I was not about to face the wrath of Belldandy by killing him off!  
Besides, the Norse gods were re-animating the dead, making them  
immortal and taking them to Asgard all the time. As for the  
debugging, I needed to give Keiichi some kind of job and I couldn't  
see him doing anything which would take him away from the sisters.  
Debugging was a logical choice since it doesn't require much in the  
way of powers or know-how. Also, Skuld would naturally be taking on  
more administrative assignments as she became more experienced,  
thereby creating the need for a new debugger.  
  
The computer operators have names? The computer operators aren't  
named in the manga, but it would have been really boring not to have  
written any dialogue for them. Therefore, I used the names of the  
operators from the movie because it added more to the story, even  
though they may not be the same operators (the movie operators have  
cheek markings, the manga operators have no markings).  
  
Nidhog is a computer closely linked to Yggdrasil? Canonically, all  
we know is that Nidhog is the demon's computer system and that it is  
linked somehow to Yggdrasil. Given the Norse basis of this fic, I  
have assumed the two systems are very closely linked, and that  
Nidhog has a fundamentally detrimental effect upon Yggdrasil. 


	3. Tactics of Mistake

"Born Again"  
  
Chapter 3   
"Tactics of Mistake"  
  
By Brian Welch bwelchz7@yahoo.com  
  
Based on the manga Aa! Megami-sama   
(Ah! My Goddess!/Oh My Goddess!)  
  
The wonderful world of Aa! Megami-sama was created by Kosuke   
Fujishima. Aa! Megami-sama/Oh My Goddess! characters are copyright   
Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo, Studio Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc.  
  
-----  
  
Yggdrasil Maintenance Facility  
  
-----  
  
Eric stared at his terminal, his hand hovering over the execute  
button. The solution had been simple enough once it finally came to  
him. Minor instabilities in the synchronization routine on the  
Nidhog side of the system were corrupting shared data on the  
Yggdrasil side. The worm which would patch the synchronization  
routine was written and the Trojan horse to give him root privileges  
on Nidhog was ready. All that was needed was to deliver the Trojan  
horse where the Nidhog system would pick it up. Still, he  
hesitated. Skuld said that hacking Nidhog was expressly forbidden.  
What would the demons do after they discovered their system had been  
hacked? I don't want to start a war, Eric thought. On the other  
hand, if I do nothing Yggdrasil will eventually die. So, which will  
it be? Risk war now, or lose Yggdrasil later? I guess, when I  
think about it, that really isn't much of a decision. At least the  
way I've done this I can safely take all the blame for this if they  
need a scape goat.  
  
Eric looked again at his hand. Urd's words came back to him, 'Do  
you ever wonder where these ideas of yours come from?' He bowed his  
head and whispered a prayer. "Lord, whoever's out there, let this be  
the right thing," as his hand came down on the execute button.  
  
The explosion lit the entire maintenance facility.  
  
"What the hell!?" Urd cursed as alarms went off.  
  
"Eric!" Skuld turned to see energy coursing around the young man,  
then it was gone and Eric was collapsing to the floor.  
  
"We've just been attacked!" Peorth shouted. "Check the firewall!"  
  
"Firewall is intact," Ere reported after a moment. "Nothing came  
through."  
  
"So, where did the attack come from?" Peorth asked.  
  
"Damned if I know," Urd grumbled. "I'm checking... uh-oh. Something  
from Yggdrasil just wrote to Nidhog's privileged program space. The  
automatic safeguards activated."  
  
"But who would..." Peorth asked.  
  
"I think we both know the answer to that one." Urd turned to where  
Skuld was leaning over a very still Eric.  
  
-----  
  
"He's still unconscious?" a worried Skuld asked.  
  
Belldandy breathed a sigh as she examined the quiet form before her,  
then consulted the diagnostic sphere in her hand. "Yes, Skuld,  
nothing has changed since we brought him here. He's still in a deep  
coma. I wouldn't dare try to awaken him even if I knew how. Without  
knowing what was done to him, anything we do could make him worse."  
  
"Even the healers couldn't do anything."  
  
"Our healers don't have experience with mortals, Skuld," Belldandy  
gently admonished. "They tried their best."  
  
Skuld reached over to brush Eric's forehead above the headband he  
still wore. "I wish I'd never made this thing. The safeguards had  
direct access to him."  
  
"That headband may be all that's keeping him alive. Remember, when  
we tried to remove it after the accident, it almost killed him. He  
may be drawing his life support from Yggdrasil." She thought for  
another minute. "His condition doesn't seem to be worsening, so I  
think we should just leave him alone for now."  
  
"All right," Skuld replied and took a seat. "At least they let us  
bring him to our home instead of keeping him at the medical  
facility."  
  
"Eric would be happy that he has such a good friend, Skuld." I wish  
I felt more confident about this, Belldandy thought to herself as  
she left the room.  
  
Skuld stayed by Eric's side for the rest of the day until Urd, at  
Belldandy's request, came to relieve her.  
  
"Hey, kiddo, don't worry. There's not much we can do about this,  
he'll either be OK or he won't," the eldest Norn counseled. "It was  
his own fault, after all."  
  
"Don't talk like that!" Skuld cried. "I should have paid more  
attention to what he was doing!"  
  
"Hey, don't blame yourself. If there's one thing I picked up from  
Donovan, it was that he liked to do things his own way. He would  
have found a way to execute that hack when you weren't there no  
matter how closely you watched him. There was nothing you could  
have done to stop this." Urd placed a comforting hand on her  
sister's shoulder. "Go and take a walk outside, or maybe go smash  
some bugs. It'll make you feel better."  
  
Skuld gave her big sister a wan smile and nodded, placing her hand  
over Urd's. "Thanks." She stood and turned to look at Eric. "He  
just seems to be sleeping, doesn't he? Kind of like that story  
Sleeping Beauty."  
  
Urd raised an eyebrow.  
  
When Skuld had left, Urd looked down at Eric. He really did look  
like he was just taking a nap. "You don't look nearly so cock-sure  
of yourself when you're sleeping like this, Donovan," she addressed  
the quiet form. "Not to mention you're a heck of a lot safer to  
have around."  
  
Urd thought about Skuld's comparison. Was the kid developing a  
crush on this trouble-making mortal? She certainly was protective  
enough. "The kid has a point, though. You are kind of cute, in a  
puppy dog sort of way."  
  
-----  
  
Three days later  
  
-----  
  
In the throne room of the Almighty, Belldandy remained on one knee,  
her head bowed.  
  
The Almighty stroked his chin contemplatively. "You say the mortal  
remains unconscious?"  
  
"Yes, Almighty One," Belldandy replied.  
  
"You also say he has somehow become linked with Yggdrasil during  
this time?"  
  
"Yes, Almighty One, we believe that to be the case."  
  
"The mortal has been in this state ever since the accident?"  
  
"Yes, Almighty One." I shouldn't have waited this long to come  
here. What if I'm too late? I should have acted sooner!  
  
The Almighty smiled encouragingly. "It is well you came to me when  
you did, Belldandy," he reassured her. "I believe time will be our  
ally in this matter. Give the mortal a few more days to make a  
recovery. Return to me in six days and we will discuss this  
further."  
  
"Yes, Almighty One." The goddess left.  
  
The Almighty sank back into his throne as his countenance faded from  
wisdom to worry.  
  
-----  
  
Five days later  
  
-----  
  
Urd hummed a simple tune as she added ingredients to her potion.  
Babysitting day after day was really getting on her nerves, but as  
long as she had to pull a shift watching over this trouble making  
mortal, she might as well enjoy it. It's been much too long since  
I've been able to take a little free time to indulge in my hobbies,  
she thought.  
  
She added another ingredient and watched the reaction. Yes, this was  
going well. The next few steps, however, would be critical. This  
particular type of potion had a tendency to become unstable in  
inexperienced hands, but Urd was nothing if not experienced.  
  
She glanced across the room at the diagnostic sphere floating over  
Eric where Belldandy had left it. There was no change, as usual.  
The current time showing on the sphere caught her attention. "Ah,  
it's about time for Skuld to take over baby-sitting. Better wrap  
this up."  
  
Eric struggled up through the blackness. It was like swimming  
through molasses, a seemingly endless, painful process. Why is it  
taking me so long to wake up? he wondered.  
  
Finally, his eyes pulled halfway open. Where am I? This isn't the  
Yggdrasil Maintenance facility. Why do I feel so rotten?  
Everything hurts. His body hurt, his head hurt, his eyes hurt, even  
his hair hurt. His mouth felt like it was made of cotton and tasted  
like someone had crammed a dirty sock into it. He closed his eyes.  
Maybe he should go back to sleep, after all, and try this again  
later.  
  
Urd heard the beep from the diagnostic sphere and turned to look.  
"What!? Donovan is awake?" The sphere certainly said so. It  
didn't look like it to her, but she'd better check to be sure.  
  
Walking over to where Eric lay, Urd noticed he didn't look any  
different, maybe even a little worse than he had yesterday. She  
snatched the sphere out of the air and shook it. It had obviously  
become defective. "Even when you're comatose you cause trouble,  
Donovan. Belldandy's diagnostics never fail like this. You know, if  
you had any consideration for others you'd just slip off into the  
next life and let us get on with ours."  
  
Is someone talking to me? Eric wondered. I can't understand what  
they're saying. Forcing himself back to consciousness, he opened  
his eyes a bit. They widened a little more as he recognized the  
angry goddess standing over him.  
  
"Ah... you're awake after all?" Nine days of endlessly boring  
shifts of baby-sitting, of watching Belldandy and Skuld wringing  
their hearts out over this worthless excuse for a mortal came  
erupting to the surface.  
  
"Wh... what happened? How did I get here?" Eric slurred, struggling  
to get the words out past lips reluctant to form them.  
  
Urd leaned over him so her face was almost touching his. "Do you  
have any idea of what you've put all of us through for the past nine  
days? Do you realize how much you've hurt my sisters, how much time  
I've wasted baby-sitting you? Do you have any concept of the utter  
stupidity of your actions in Yggdrasil Maintenance? We and the  
demons are NOT allowed to touch each other's systems! Do you  
realize how close you came to starting a war? You call yourself a  
COMPUTER EXPERT!?"  
  
Urd became aware of strange noises coming from behind her. Turning,  
she stared in horror at the runaway reaction building among her  
chemicals.  
  
"Uh-oh..."  
  
*BOOM!*  
  
The room filled with billows of acrid smoke. A quick dispersion  
spell cleared the air, revealing a table of wrecked lab equipment.  
  
Urd was livid. "Look what you did!" Picking Eric up by the front  
of his shirt, she began shaking him like a rat. "I have half a mind  
to wait until you recover, and then send you into another coma  
myself!"  
  
*Clink!*  
  
The headband worked free of Eric's brow and dropped to the floor.  
  
"Oops..." Urd let go of Eric, who immediately collapsed onto his  
bed, and picked up the device.  
  
"What's all the yelling abou... Eric!" Skuld entered the room and  
threw herself upon him. "You're awake!"  
  
"Owww...!" Eric groaned. "Take it easy, Skuld, or Urd won't get  
her chance to finish me off." Man, how I hurt. My voice seems to  
be working better, though. Must have been the workout Urd gave me.  
How many days did she say I've been unconscious?  
  
[Nine days,] his AI informed him.  
  
Hey, you've been aware all this time? Eric asked.  
  
[Yes, but deprived of sensory information. Our interface was  
restored when the headband was removed.]  
  
Skuld whirled around, placing herself between her oldest sister and  
the mortal. "Don't you dare lay a finger on him, you bully!" she  
shouted.  
  
"Yeah, well look what he did to my equipment! Oh, by the way,  
here's your gizmo."  
  
Skuld looked at the headband Urd handed her, and then at Eric. With  
a scream of joy, she gave him another life-threatening hug.  
  
-----  
  
Belldandy finished checking Eric's vital signs. "You are still  
exhausted and very weak, Eric, but otherwise in satisfactory  
condition. How do you feel?"  
  
"As soon as Thor stops pounding on my head, I'll tell you."  
  
"Do you think you could drink something?" she asked, beaming a  
smile down upon him.  
  
"I think I could." Eric replied, basking under her gaze. What a  
bedside manner! Maybe I should get beaten up more often! Then his  
throbbing head reminded him that the price was perhaps a little  
high, after all.  
  
Eric took the amber liquid she offered. The taste was appealing and  
almost immediately he found that his headache was subsiding.  
"Thanks, Belldandy, I feel much better. What was that drink?"  
  
"I don't know," Belldandy replied. "I'll have to ask Urd what she  
used."  
  
"Urd!?" Eric winced as a twinge of pain stabbed him between the  
eyes.  
  
"Yes, she is very good with medicines and has had much more  
experience with human physiology than anyone else in Heaven."  
  
"Oh." I would have expected poison.  
  
"I'll go ask her now," Belldandy got up and left.  
  
Eric gingerly placed a hand to his head. The pain was almost gone.  
He took the opportunity to shift into a more comfortable position  
then stared out over the garden, enjoying the warmth of the sun or  
whatever passed for sun here in Heaven, and watching the comings and  
goings of the insects (or whatever those flying things were) and  
birds. It was very peaceful, actually.  
  
Of course, that couldn't last.  
  
A shadow fell over Eric. "Hello, Donovan, how are you?" Urd asked.  
  
Eric flinched, winced again at another stab of pain between his  
eyes, and looked up at the goddess.  
  
"Oh, hi, Urd." Uh-oh.  
  
"Here, I brought you some more to drink. Belldandy says you  
responded well to the first dose." She held out a glass.  
  
"Uh," Eric hesitated, regarding the glass suspiciously. "This is the  
same stuff Belldandy gave me?"  
  
"Of course it is. Look, Donovan," Urd purred, "when I'm ready to do  
you in once and for all I'll take care of it with my bare hands.  
Poison is for cowards."  
  
Eric's eyes widened a bit. You know, I believe her. "Thanks, I, ah,  
always appreciate the personal touch," he replied with what he hoped  
was a confident air before taking a sip from the glass. "So, when  
did you take over nurse duties from Belldandy?"  
  
"I see you haven't lost your spirit, at least. I'm not here to  
nurse you, I'm here to interrogate you. We have a lot of talking to  
do and I wouldn't want you to run out of energy before I've pumped  
all the information I want out of you. Now, why don't I pull up a  
chair so we can be cozy?"  
  
"Said the spider to the fly."  
  
Urd just smiled.  
  
"Might I guess the topic of interrogation?" Eric asked.  
  
"Let's skip the pleasantries and you tell me just what you were  
trying to do when you created that fiasco." Urd returned.  
  
"I was trying to hack into Nidhog. You already know that."  
  
"Don't say it so glibly. Hacking each others systems is strictly  
forbidden for gods and demons. It's one of our highest level  
crimes, and punishment is severe. You're lucky you never got far  
enough for them to notice. Now, what were you trying to do with the  
hack?"  
  
"Nidhog and Yggdrasil share data. There was a problem with the  
synchronization between the two systems, so I fixed it."  
  
"That's what I finally figured out you'd tried to do. You covered  
your tracks well, Donovan. Now, can you tell me why it didn't  
work?"  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Your patch failed to fix the problem. The synchronization errors  
are still occurring."  
  
"How... that can't be! My hunches are always right!"  
  
"Not this time."  
  
"I don't understand..." Eric looked stunned.  
  
"Neither do I. Honestly, I was hoping I was wrong. We need to find  
out what happened this time. What can you tell me about this  
intuition of yours?"  
  
Eric began to explain. Neither of them noticed that they were being  
watched.  
  
-----  
  
Belldandy kneeled, her head bowed.  
  
"Almighty One, I am here as instructed."  
  
"You have news concerning the mortal, Eric Donovan?"  
  
"Yes, Almighty One, Eric regained consciousness yesterday."  
  
"What is his condition?"  
  
"He is still weakened but recovering rapidly, Almighty One."  
  
"Is there anything else of significance to report?"  
  
"No, Almighty One."  
  
"Thank you, Belldandy. Report to me if there are any further  
developments in his condition. You may return to your duties."  
  
"Yes, Almighty One."  
  
-----  
  
"Good morning, Eric," Belldandy said walking up to where he sat in  
what was becoming his usual spot in the garden. "How do you feel  
today?"  
  
"Better and better, thanks."  
  
"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it out here so much," Belldandy  
said, looking out over the garden.  
  
"Well, to tell you the truth, I'm kind of surprised myself. People  
come from all over the solar system to see what I can see out my  
window, but I never appreciated it like I do this. I'm not sure if  
it's the change in scenery of if I've changed that much."  
  
"Well, when you return to Earth you will get the chance to find  
out."  
  
"Yeah, I suppose so."  
  
"You look anxious, Eric. Are you still worried about what happened  
when you tried to hack Nidhog?"  
  
Eric flinched. Does she suspect that I'm thinking about trying to  
hack Nidhog again? "I... I guess I am. I'm not used to being wrong  
on something like this, especially something so important."  
  
"Don't let this shake your confidence in yourself, Eric. Life is  
full of little setbacks, but overcoming them only serves to make us  
stronger."  
  
"Thanks, Belldandy." Other people's lives may be full of setbacks  
but not mine, not like this. "You and Skuld don't need to stay with  
me all day, you know. I promise to take it easy."  
  
"Don't worry, Urd said she'd check in on you this morning."  
  
Urd!? "Oh, OK." I wonder what she wants this time? She sure didn't  
seem very satisfied with what I told her yesterday.  
  
"Um, do you think it would be all right if I took a walk around? I  
could sure use the exercise."  
  
"Of course! It would be fine."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
After Belldandy left, Eric returned to his thoughts. There's no way  
around it. The errors have to stop, and that means hacking Nidhog,  
regardless of the consequences. But what if it doesn't work this  
time, either? Is my intuition failing me? Could I even tell for  
sure if it was? 'Do you ever wonder where these ideas of yours come  
from?' Urd's words kept mocking him. "Gah! I can't stand this! I  
need to clear my head." Eric looked around. No evidence of Urd.  
If I want to get out of here for a walk, I'd better go now before  
she shows up to pin me down again.  
  
Eric rose and walked to the garden entrance. Well, win or lose, at  
least I can try to do the hack in a way that won't let the other  
side pin the blame on anyone in Heaven. I've never played the  
suffering martyr before. This could be interesting, at least.  
  
The architecture of heaven was absolutely breathtaking. Islands and  
jutting terraces populated by fanciful buildings were scattered  
about and stacked in carefree disregard to the law of gravity.  
Everywhere he looked there was the green of great parks of grass and  
forests of trees. The sun shone brightly, the birds sang, and the  
air smelled wonderful.  
  
"Ah, just what I needed." Eric worked the kinks out of his body as  
he strolled across the grass. "Even that Nidhog fiasco doesn't seem  
so bad any more. Looking back on it, I should have had a program  
initiate the hack, a program with high enough priority to evade the  
safeguards. That would do it. It could still be killed from the  
other side, though, unless I do something to distract the attention  
of the demons. Some kind of physical manifestation to keep them busy  
while the hack goes in. Hehe, now that's going to be fun to  
program. Something big and nasty..."  
  
"You!" A voice cried from behind him.  
  
Eric turned to see what looked like a very tall elf. At least his  
ears were pointed and protruded from his head in more or less  
standard elf fashion, if there was such a thing. The elf, or god,  
or whatever was a little taller than Eric but lighter in build. The  
symbol on his forehead which identified him as a deity of some sort  
was a dot with an inverted crescent moon over it, making almost a  
bulls eye effect. He was dressed mainly in white with a red cape and  
carried what looked like some sort of harp.  
  
"You are the one who has conspired to steal Urd's heart away from  
me!" the elf/god accused.  
  
"Excuse me?" Eric asked. This person is obviously confused.  
  
"You came here under false pretenses! You wish only to steal Urd's  
heart!"  
  
"Now, hold on a minute," Eric spread his hands in a gesture of  
innocence. "No offense, but you must have me confused with someone  
else. Urd and I don't even like--"  
  
"Swine! Don't try to deny it, I saw you sitting together in the  
garden!"  
  
"Together in the garden? Oh, that! Let me explain--"  
  
"I will have none of your lies! When I think of her serving you...  
aargh!!" The elf/god raised a fist, his face a study in hatred.  
  
What's going on here? I won't stand a chance in a fight with this  
guy! "Now, wait a minute! She was interrogating me! You're  
jumping to the wrong conclusions, here."  
  
"No! I have proof enough of your guilt!" the elf/god cried, taking  
up his harp and striking a chord. "When this song ends, so will  
you." With that, the elf/god began playing a strange song. A song  
about bugs. It wasn't even a particularly good song about bugs.  
  
That 'so will you' part didn't sound good, Eric decided. How did a  
simple stroll turn so suddenly into a life-or-death situation?  
Should I try to run, stop him, or just scream for help?  
  
A deep sense of foreboding and more than a little fear settled over  
Eric. "Look, friend, I don't want any trouble. Let's go ask Urd.  
She'll straighten this..." he began, then felt something move inside  
of him. "What was..."  
  
"Aaah!" Eric doubled over as he felt more things, many more things,  
moving inside of his body. "Hey, don't! Aaah! What's happening!?"  
he screamed as he fell to his knees. The pain was rapidly becoming  
incredible.  
  
"No! Don't do this!" I feel like I'm being ripped inside out!  
"Help..." he called weakly, then screamed again and clutched his  
stomach tighter.  
  
Stop the pain! Stop the pain! Eric's mind screamed, but the spiky  
things in his gut continued squirming, driven by that infernal  
melody, driven by that program running in the depths of Yggdrasil...  
  
...wait, a program!? That's the key! Suddenly, through the haze of  
pain he could see, feel the program running in Yggdrasil.  
  
I have to kill it somehow! Eric's mind screamed. Just change this  
attribute here and it'd terminate. But how do I...  
  
The squirming stopped. The bugs were gone. Eric gulped air as  
relief swept over him. He realized that he was lying on his side,  
curled into a fetal position.  
  
The elf/god, whoever he was, had apparently not noticed Eric's  
improved condition, as he was concentrating his whole attention on  
the song. Slowly, slowly, Eric uncurled and began to raise up on  
one elbow only to feel something all too familiar moving around  
inside him, again.  
  
No, no, not again! This time, his mind reacted instinctively,  
lashing out and aborting the new routine. The churning inside him  
disappeared. Eric gulped more air and managed to get up on his  
elbow again. He coughed up blood. Oh, great. Internal injuries,  
he realized.  
  
The elf/god seemed to at last became aware of what was going on, as  
he redoubled his efforts in playing the song, putting renewed  
emphasis into each note.  
  
Eric felt something stirring more quickly than before, and killed  
the program again. Damn, he must be regenerating it! I have to  
hold out until someone finds me!  
  
He killed the program again, this time as soon as it began to  
execute, even before he could feel anything.  
  
Slowly, painfully, Eric rose to a kneeling position, swaying a  
little as he straightened up. He killed the hell-spawn program  
again.  
  
The elf/god finished his song in a fury of twanging and wailing.  
  
"Catchy tune, there... but the lyrics... could use a little work,"  
Eric gasped out. He decided that he hated this guy.  
  
"What kind of demon are you!?" the elf/god accused.  
  
"One who appreciates... good music... which that wasn't," Eric  
managed to get out between coughs. He wanted very badly to choke  
the life out of this person, but he seriously doubted he could  
stand, much less walk the four or five steps required to get to the  
guy.  
  
The elf/god repositioned his harp and struck a chord. "It matters  
not," he said darkly, and began playing.  
  
Here it comes again, or probably something worse. Eric began to  
steel himself.  
  
That was when a figure dropped out of the sky to land between them.  
  
There was the smack of a fist hitting flesh, and the elf/god was  
laid out flat on the ground.  
  
Eric blinked in amazement as he recognized his savior.  
  
"Troubadour, are you crazy!?" Urd screamed. "Do you realize how  
much trouble you could get into by messing with him?" her pointing  
finger indicated Eric.  
  
"Urd! My love!" Troubadour, rising from his position on the ground,  
greeted the goddess.  
  
"He's under the protection of the Almighty himself, idiot! You  
could lose your license!"  
  
"Oh, Urd, why have you shut me out of your heart?"  
  
"What are you babbling about? Oh no, you didn't think that..."  
Urd's body tensed for a split second before she hit Troubadour again  
with a vicious right cross. This time the impact carried him several  
feet, his harp flying even further.  
  
Urd stalked over to the prone god. "Listen," she hissed between  
clenched teeth. "If you ever mess with someone I care for again, so  
help me I will fry you to a cinder and then turn what's left into a  
rock!"  
  
'someone I care for!?' Eric wondered.  
  
"As for HIM," Urd pointed a finger at Eric, "how could you even  
THINK such a thing? Are you COMPLETELY delusional!?"  
  
Ah, that clears up that little matter, Eric decided.  
  
Urd now stalked over to Eric. "And you, what were you doing  
wandering around all by yourself? You could fall off the edge of  
something or get into trouble any number of ways. This place wasn't  
made for mortals, you could get hurt!"  
  
"Yeah... tell me... about it," Eric gasped before coughing up more  
blood.  
  
"What the..." Urd's eyes widened then she turned to Troubadour.  
"Get out. Get out, now." Her voice, her face expressed shock.  
  
"Urd..." Troubadour pleaded.  
  
"Do you realize you may have just destroyed everything you ever  
dreamed about? You may have already lost your license, Troubadour.  
Leave now... please."  
  
"I'm sorry," Troubadour leapt into the air and disappeared into the  
distance.  
  
"Wh... who was that?" Eric groaned while holding his stomach. His  
breathing was ragged and he was shaking uncontrollably. Great, I'm  
going into shock, he realized.  
  
"Never mind that, you need medical attention ASAP," Urd said as she  
lifted him into her arms.  
  
Eric winced at the shift in position.  
  
Urd leaped into the sky. Eric noticed she didn't bother with wings  
as Belldandy had done.  
  
Once the wave of agony from the sudden acceleration had subsided to  
merely excruciating levels, Eric looked at the ground rapidly  
passing below them.  
  
"Woooh..." He quickly looked back up as vertigo and the reawakened  
the agony in his stomach threatened to overcome him. "You know," he  
gasped out as they descended towards the home of the Norns, "this  
really isn't... doing much for my... fragile male ego."  
  
"How can you crack a joke at a time like this? Your ego could use  
some paring down, boy," Urd growled.  
  
Well, that attempt at humor certainly fell flat, Eric groaned.  
  
Urd landed and placed Eric in the reclining chair he had spent so  
much time in lately.  
  
"Hey, anybody home?" she called.  
  
"Sure, what's the emer... Eric? Eric!" Skuld rushed over to them.  
"What happened!?"  
  
"No time to explain," Urd answered. "I'm going to stabilize him,  
but we'd better get Belldandy here just in case," she said with her  
eyes closed and hands over Eric's stomach.  
  
"I'm already gone!" Skuld answered, rushing over to a small pond in  
the garden and disappearing.  
  
A healing light from Urd's hands bathed Eric for a moment. "Well,  
that should hold you for a bit," she said. "I'm going inside for  
some medicine."  
  
Eric nodded weakly.  
  
In a moment she was back. "Here, drink this," she offered.  
  
Eric did, and the pain began subsiding. I guess she can be gentle  
when she wants to, he decided, and she probably saved my life back  
there. He settled himself gingerly, trying unsuccessfully to find a  
comfortable position. "Thanks for playing the cavalry, Urd, I mean  
it. You're right about not wandering around on my own. I really owe  
you one."  
  
Urd looked at Eric for a moment, then turned away. "It was partly  
my fault you got into trouble."  
  
"Oh?" Eric put two and two together. "So, he really is an ex-  
boyfriend?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"If you don't mind my saying so, I think you were right to dump  
him."  
  
"We were together a long time ago," and he was the one who dumped  
me. Urd began playing absentmindedly with one of her bracelets, the  
one she still wore, engraved "To Urd from Troubadour".  
  
"So, is he a god?"  
  
"Yeah, of plum trees."  
  
"Oh? I used to like plum trees, too."  
  
Urd stood with her head bowed for a few seconds, then turned to  
Eric. "Are you OK?" she asked in an only mildly irritated voice.  
She blinked a few times.  
  
Were those tears in her eyes? Eric wondered. Nah, must be a  
reflection from the sun or something. "Yeah, I think so," Eric  
replied, gently probing his abdomen. "That guy was dangerous, that's  
for sure," he added, then held his middle tighter from a mild spasm.  
  
"Well, you're lucky I arrived when I did, before he got any further  
into that song. How did he hurt you so much before I got there,  
anyway? He usually isn't physically violent."  
  
"Oh, yeah, you missed his first time through on that song."  
  
"What!? How much did you hear?"  
  
"Like I said, he played the whole thing through. After he finished,  
he seemed really upset that I hadn't reacted to it any stronger than  
I did."  
  
"If you heard that song, you should have bugs bursting out of you  
everywhere. As a mortal, you should be dead."  
  
"Ooh." Eric held his stomach again, the memories still fresh. "I  
don't think I needed... to know that."  
  
"So, how did you survive?"  
  
"I'm not exactly sure. I think I was able to cancel the spell after  
it started ripping me..." Eric winced. "Ouch, poor choice of words,"  
he groaned, gripping his stomach tighter.  
  
"What do you mean, 'cancel the spell'?" Urd asked, but Eric's reply  
was interrupted by the arrival of Belldandy from a gazing ball and  
Skuld from the pond.  
  
"How is Eric?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"Well, a lot better than he should be," Urd replied.  
  
"What!? I shouldn't have left him with you, Urd!" Skuld shouted as  
she ran to Eric's side.  
  
"You misunderstand," Urd replied. "He heard Troubadour's little  
song. You know which one, right?"  
  
"Oh, no!" Belldandy stiffened, a look of horror on her face. "Not  
that song!" That particular song would always be etched upon her  
memory from the time it had been used on her Keiichi.  
  
"I stopped the jerk, but not before he had sung it once through  
already. Donovan weathered the experience remarkably well, though,  
I must say."  
  
Skuld stared at Eric. "You should be dead!"  
  
"Please," Eric winced. "Does everyone have to keep saying that?"  
  
"Well, I don't think we have to worry about Troubadour bothering him  
again. I reminded him that by injuring our Mr. Donovan, here, he  
had jeopardized his license. He won't dare lift a finger against him  
now," Urd said acidly.  
  
Those old wounds still haven't healed, dear sister? Belldandy's eyes  
filled with concern. You still mourn that his love for you wasn't  
stronger than his desire for advancement?  
  
"How did you survive?" Skuld asked Eric.  
  
"That's what I'd like to know," Urd said. "Donovan, you said you  
'cancelled' the spell?"  
  
"Before we begin questions, Eric, hold still a moment," Belldandy  
said.  
  
A light similar to the one which had come from Urd bathed Eric.  
"There," Belldandy said.  
  
Eric stretched gingerly. "Thanks, that's much better."  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
"Now, to get back on subject," Urd began.  
  
"I wish I could tell you for sure," Eric said. "I can tell you what  
I thought I was doing, but I haven't a clue as to what actually  
happened."  
  
"OK, then tell us what you think you did."  
  
"I think that I somehow sensed the spell program running within  
Yggdrasil and stopped it."  
  
There was silence.  
  
"You mean Troubadour's program?" Skuld asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Can someone do that? Is it possible?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"No." Urd and Skuld replied in unison.  
  
"Not someone else's program," Urd added.  
  
"Ownership is locked by the system," Skuld explained.  
  
"But, then, how did Eric do it?" Belldandy asked.  
  
Skuld shrugged.  
  
"You got me," Urd said.  
  
A rock began floating in the air next to Eric. "Donovan, see if you  
can cancel the levitation spell," Urd directed.  
  
Eric concentrated but nothing came to him. "Sorry, I can't feel  
it."  
  
"Hmm." The rock settled back to the ground. "OK, I'm going to  
place a spell on you, this time. Ready?"  
  
"Sure," Eric replied, then found his arms moving in circles on their  
own. The sensation was rather frightening. As he tried to resist  
there was a momentary glimpse of a program running on Yggdrasil, his  
mind performed the necessary operation as if by instinct, and Eric's  
arms dropped to his sides.  
  
"Wow," Skuld said.  
  
"That felt really weird," Eric said, shaking out his arms.  
  
"Well, it looks like you can indeed kill a program running on  
Yggdrasil," Urd said. "Although how you're doing it is beyond me at  
the moment. It may be that you only respond to programs which  
affect you directly, though. We need to test this. Skuld, we'll  
need a terminal and a routine to collect the data."  
  
"I have an extra terminal in my room."  
  
"Right, we'll do it here. Donovan is still a little shaky, and I'd  
prefer we kept this under wraps for the time being, at least."  
  
Skuld was back in a flash. She set the terminal up on the porch and  
began programming it for data capture.  
  
Keiichi walked up while she was working. "What's going on?"  
  
"Urd and Skuld are about to conduct an experiment," Belldandy  
beamed.  
  
"Oh, that's nice... I think." Keiichi didn't see an obvious test  
subject, and that made him a little nervous.  
  
"Sit here, Eric," Skuld directed once she had finished. "Now, you'll  
need to wear these." She brought out several sensors and placed  
them at different points on his body.  
  
"What are all these for?"  
  
"We need to get all the telemetry we can. Besides, you look more  
like a test subject wearing them."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
Keiichi turned to Belldandy. "They're going to test Eric?"  
  
"Yes," Belldandy replied. "Isn't it wonderful? They're so excited."  
  
"Well, this brings back memories." I'm not saying what kind.  
"Those two really get carried away."  
  
"Yes, they love a challenge."  
  
"At least this time I'm not the guinea pig."  
  
Eric noticed Urd was now wearing a white lab coat with something  
pink underneath. Not that he had time to worry about it.  
  
"Ready!" Urd cried.  
  
"Switch on!" Skuld answered.  
  
"I don't feel anything," Eric said.  
  
"Of course you don't," Skuld answered. "These are only sensors to  
collect data. They don't input anything."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Quiet, please," Urd announced.  
  
"Magical Stimulus Test subject Eric Donovan," Urd intoned in an  
official sounding voice. "Test commencing."  
  
"Test number one. Direct magical attack," Urd said.  
  
"Attack?" Eric asked.  
  
"Recorder engaged!" Skuld said.  
  
"Lightning strike!" Urd cried.  
  
"Waaaaah!" Eric screamed.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"Recorder stopped," Skuld said.  
  
"Subject experienced no trauma," Urd said.  
  
"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Eric replied, still breathing hard.  
"I barely had time to stop that thing."  
  
"They're having so much fun," Belldandy said, beaming.  
  
"Scary, isn't it?" Keiichi said.  
  
"Test number two. Indirect magical attack," Urd intoned.  
  
"Hold up, let me catch my brea--"  
  
"Recorder engaged!"  
  
"Hey, wait a--!"  
  
"Lightning strike!"  
  
"Ouch!"  
  
"Recorder stopped."  
  
"Hey, what's the big idea!?"  
  
"Subject experienced minor abrasions."  
  
"I'm still an invalid, remember? You could have killed me!"  
  
"With that puny bolt? Not a chance," Urd said, walking over to him.  
"Let nurse Urd take care of those boo- boos, hmm?" The lab coat  
dissolved, leaving her in a pink nurse's uniform.  
  
"Hey, what's that in your hand?!" Eric asked, beginning to get out  
of his chair while keeping his eyes on the large syringe Urd was  
carrying.  
  
"Don't move!" Skuld ordered. "You'll dislodge my sensors!"  
  
"Oh, this?" Urd said. "This is just a stage prop. You don't think  
we'd really use something as antiquated as a hypodermic in Heaven,  
do you?"  
  
"Well, I..." Eric began, settling back into his seat, his eyes still  
on the big needle.  
  
"Here, hold this," Urd said, handing Eric a glass of water with her  
other hand.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"A glass of water. What does it look like?" Urd produced something  
small and shiny which she dropped into the glass.  
  
*POOF!*  
  
"Hey!" Eric yelled, holding the glass as far away as possible as a  
small mushroom cloud erupted from it. Somehow, he didn't drop the  
thing.  
  
"There you go, now drink up," Urd said.  
  
"What? You want me to DRINK this!?"  
  
"Don't be such a wuss, Donovan."  
  
"Eric is not a wuss!" Skuld said. "He's just wary of your weird  
medicines, that's all."  
  
"This one is a basic healing potion. Nothing unusual about it at  
all."  
  
"It blew up in my hand," Eric protested.  
  
"That was just for theatrical effect. Presentation is half of the  
fun, you know."  
  
"Still, you can't blame him for not wanting to drink something which  
just exploded," Skuld argued.  
  
"Keiichi would have drained the glass by now."  
  
"That's because Keiichi doesn't have the backbone to stand up  
against you! Er, I mean _didn't_ have the backbone... back on  
Earth," Skuld added with a chagrined look Keiichi's way.  
  
"Yeah, this is looking a lot like old times," Keiichi said to  
Belldandy.  
  
"OK, OK, I'll drink it," Eric said, taking a swallow from the glass.  
  
"There, you see?" Skuld said. "He's a brave guy after all!"  
  
"You just called Keiichi spineless for doing the same thing," Urd  
said.  
  
"This is different," Skuld said. "Eric had already stood up to  
you."  
  
"You know, you're being awfully protective of Donovan," Urd smirked.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Skuld looked at Eric who was  
suddenly very busy draining the glass.  
  
"Well, whatever, let's wrap up this experiment, shall we?" Urd said.  
  
"So, where were we? Oh, yes! Misdirected magical attack," Urd  
spoke.  
  
"Recorder engaged!" Skuld said.  
  
"Lightning strike!" Urd cried.  
  
*BOOM!*  
  
Eric twitched.  
  
"Recorder stopped!" Skuld said.  
  
"Well, that wraps this up. Skuld, let's take a look at those  
results," Urd said.  
  
"What about me?" Eric asked, holding up the wires to the sensors  
covering his body.  
  
"Oh, yeah, guess I forgot for a moment," Skuld hurried over and  
removed the instrumentation. "Just wait here and we'll have the  
results in a minute."  
  
"How does it feel to be a guinea pig?" Keiichi asked, walking over  
to Eric.  
  
"Uh, frightening?"  
  
"Don't worry, their methods are unconventional but they do know what  
they're doing."  
  
"Thank you, Eric," Belldandy said.  
  
"You're welcome!" Eric beamed back at Belldandy in reflex. "Um, for  
what?"  
  
"You've made my sisters very happy."  
  
"Oh, well, I didn't really mind that much being a test subject."  
  
"I was talking more about your work on Yggdrasil."  
  
"Oh? It's what you hired me for."  
  
"Yes, but it's been many years since my sisters have been able to do  
something they really enjoy, and you've made that possible."  
  
They enjoy blowing up helpless guys? "Then you're certainly welcome  
for that. I was glad to be of service." ...I think.  
  
"Bell, you want to come over and take a look at this?" Urd asked.  
  
"What did you find?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"Yggdrasil issued a root level command to kill that lightning  
spell."  
  
"A kill command? Is there some kind of program guarding Eric?"  
  
"The command wasn't issued by a program," Skuld said.  
  
"Then..." Belldandy said.  
  
"It wasn't issued by a user account, either," Skuld said.  
  
"So that leaves us with the question of where that kill command came  
from," Urd said.  
  
"This will require further testing," Skuld said, stroking her chin.  
  
Eric groaned.  
  
-----  
  
"So, everything came up negative," Urd said, leaning back from the  
table.  
  
"Zilch," Skuld said.  
  
"What does that mean?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"It means that no detectable force is issuing those kill commands,"  
Skuld said.  
  
"So, either the force is undetectable by the system or else the  
kills are issued spontaneously," Urd added.  
  
"Either of which should be impossible," Skuld finished.  
  
"That's not the only strange thing, though," Urd said. "Whatever it  
is only affects spells which either target Donovan directly or which  
include him in their area of effect. It's that last part that  
really has me spooked."  
  
"What do you mean?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"Look at it this way. Let's assume something happened to connect  
Donovan with Yggdrasil when he was knocked unconscious for all that  
time, something which now gives him root level access to any program  
about to influence him."  
  
"Oh, that would be... unique," Belldandy said.  
  
"Yeah, that's scary enough. What's scarier is his ability to affect  
spells which will only include him in their area of influence. To  
do that this ability of his has to scan every spell program running  
in the entire system to determine if he will be affected by it.  
That's a whole lot more involved than simply waiting for a spell  
program to target him directly and then giving him kill authority  
over it."  
  
"I see, now."  
  
"We're talking a major amount of processing power, here," Skuld  
said. "That much processing power would have to be detectable if it  
was running on the system."  
  
"So, do you think it's running on Nidhog, then?" Belldandy asked.  
  
Urd and Skuld looked at each other.  
  
"Nidhog would have to be accessing Yggdrasil's privileged space for  
that to happen," Skuld said.  
  
"The safeguards would have kicked in," Urd added. "That much traffic  
would be hard to keep undetected. Still, we'd better recheck the  
logs to make sure."  
  
Skuld began pulling up the logs.  
  
Urd peered over her shoulder, scanning entries.  
  
"Mmm," she said.  
  
"Hmm," Skuld said.  
  
"Well?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"Nope, no activity crossing between Nidhog and Yggdrasil," Urd said.  
  
"We're back to unknown forces," Skuld said.  
  
-----  
  
End Chapter 3  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
What's the significance of the 9 days Eric was unconscious? Odin  
pierced himself with his own spear and hung on Yggdrasil for 9 days  
to gain understanding of the world and become the Allfather. I used  
a similar mechanism here for Eric, only substituting the mental link  
for the spear.  
  
I really enjoyed writing the "experiment" section of this chapter.  
This fic has been way too serious so far, and it was a great  
opportunity to lighten things up a bit. Given the way Urd and Skuld  
acted around the Ultimate Destruction Program during Terrible Master  
Urd, it would have been out of character for them not to take a  
break from the angst when the opportunity presented itself. 


	4. Ender's Game

"Born Again"  
  
Chapter 4   
"Ender's Game"  
  
By Brian Welch   
bwelchz7@yahoo.com  
  
Based on the manga Aa! Megami-sama   
(Ah! My Goddess!/Oh My Goddess!)  
  
The wonderful world of Aa! Megami-sama was created by Kosuke   
Fujishima. Aa! Megami-sama/Oh My Goddess! characters are copyright   
Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo, Studio Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc.  
  
-----  
  
Throne Room of the Almighty  
  
-----  
  
"Almighty One, you requested that I inform you of changes in the  
condition of the mortal, Eric Donovan."  
  
"Proceed, Belldandy."  
  
"Almighty One, he has apparently... somehow become able to interrupt  
the execution of certain programs running within Yggdrasil." I did  
not say that well at all, but how does one explain such a thing?  
  
"Mm. What is the extent of this ability?" the Almighty inquired.  
  
"As nearly as Urd and Skuld can tell, Almighty One, he can terminate  
any spell program which targets him or which will affect him  
significantly."  
  
"How is his condition, otherwise?"  
  
"He is still weakened but in good health otherwise, Almighty One."  
  
"Thank you, Belldandy. You may return to your duties, now."  
  
"Yes, Almighty One."  
  
The Almighty stroked his chin in contemplation.  
  
-----  
  
Skuld was pulling her shift of baby-sitting, though she wouldn't  
have called it that, and Eric was, as usual lately, resting in the  
garden.  
  
'Holding for observation, my foot!' Eric groused. Urd's just trying  
to keep me from touching a terminal. I'm in perfectly good shape. I  
need to get back to work! He was still sulking when the garden  
exploded in front of him. At least that's what it looked like as  
Eric shielded his eyes.  
  
The god who appeared out of the chaotic display was even taller than  
Troubadour had been. Where Troubadour was thin, however, this god  
was powerfully, almost massively built. Yet, as he walked to where  
Eric was sitting, he moved with a measured grace. The most  
arresting thing about him, though, was an overwhelming sense of  
PRESENCE. When he looked at Eric, his eyes... well, Eric couldn't  
quite make out any details of his face, but his gaze certainly  
seemed to penetrate deeply into Eric's psyche.  
  
Eric shifted uncomfortably. Not again, I should have run while I  
had the chance!  
  
"Eric Donovan." It was a statement rather than a question.  
  
"Y-yes, sir?"  
  
The god raised an eyebrow. "I must say I am surprised to find you  
in such a humble, even ignominious state. I trust this bodes well  
for all that is?"  
  
"Ah, er," Eric replied, brilliantly. Was what he just said supposed  
to mean something to me? Who is this person, and why do I feel like  
I'm sitting here in my underwear?  
  
"I had expected someone more... brash. If I may, I would like to  
ask a question of you."  
  
"Yes, sir?" Uh-oh, here it comes. I'll bet this is about that  
Troubadour thing.  
  
"Have you completed all you set out to do, here?"  
  
Huh!? How does he know? Eric shook his head, gathered his courage,  
and answered. "No, sir, I haven't yet."  
  
"I surmised as much. Very well, I leave you to complete your duty.  
I will make certain that you are not further interfered with. Until  
our fates cross again." The god nodded his head to Eric, and faded  
from view.  
  
Eric deflated into his chair. Wow. I haven't been affected like  
this since I first met Belldandy. Who was that guy, and why does he  
want me to try to hack Nidhog again?  
  
"Eric!"  
  
"Waa!"  
  
"What was HE doing here? What did he say to you?"  
  
"Oh, hi, Skuld." Pardon me while I go into cardiac arrest, girl!  
"I'm not sure why he was here. He asked me if I had completed my  
work, then told me it was my duty to finish it."  
  
"That was all?"  
  
"Yes, though I think he was surprised that I had been beaten up by  
Troubadour."  
  
"Oh, that was all Urd's fault! She's always getting us into  
trouble!"  
  
"Well, I don't think you're in trouble, he actually seemed kind of  
pleased, maybe more like relieved that I had been beaten up."  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Doesn't make any sense to me, either. So, do you mind telling me  
who that guy was?"  
  
"You mean you don't know!? That was the Almighty!"  
  
-----  
  
"Look at him," Urd gestured to where Eric sat hunched over his  
terminal. "You'd think the end of the world was around the corner."  
  
"Why don't you just for once cut the poor kid some slack?" Peorth  
replied.  
  
"There's something different with him since that fiasco trying to  
hack Nidhog. It's almost like he's racing against some deadline.  
Why don't you go talk to him, see if you can find anything out?"  
  
"I won't spy for you, Urd. If you want to interrogate him, you'll  
have to do it yourself."  
  
"He won't open up to me. Every time I come around now he clams up."  
  
"If you weren't so hostile towards him, he might trust you more."  
  
"I don't have time to be lovey dovey, I have a system to run."  
  
"I'm not suggesting you seduce him," leave that to me, "I'm just  
saying you could give him the respect he deserves."  
  
"He's a hacker! With root privileges on my system!"  
  
"In the few weeks he's been here he's done an extraordinary amount  
of work to fix 'your' system for you. He also has the backing of  
the Almighty."  
  
"I know all that, but I still think he's too dangerous to be left  
running around doing who knows what to Yggdrasil."  
  
"What's gotten into you, Urd?"  
  
"What if he tries to hack into Nidhog again? We're lucky the demon  
admins didn't notice the last time."  
  
Peorth sighed. "That's not what I'm talking about, Urd. You've  
changed, and it's not for the better."  
  
"Even worse, we have no idea what's driving him, giving him these  
ideas," Urd continued, ignoring Peorth. "Heck, he even has the  
Almighty spooked enough to check him out personally."  
  
"Stop being so anal, Urd. How long has it been since you went on a  
date? There's more to life than being sys admin and hanging around  
your sisters all the time."  
  
"Don't try to change the subject."  
  
"Why don't you break with that old boyfriend of yours once and for  
all and start enjoying life?"  
  
"I don't need advice about my love life, and especially not from  
you."  
  
"Urd, believe it or not, I really hate seeing you this way. You're  
a free spirit. You were never meant to be celibate."  
  
"I still enjoy myself."  
  
"Yeah, sure you do. Celibacy is Belldandy's thing, not yours."  
  
Urd sighed. "In case you haven't noticed, Belldandy isn't any  
more."  
  
"Which makes your case all the more tragic, Urd."  
  
Urd sighed again. "Point taken. You can drop the lecture now,  
Flower Girl."  
  
"OK, OK, but Urd... you really need to ditch Troubadour. He's like a  
lead weight around your neck."  
  
"We've been through for a long time."  
  
"He doesn't think so."  
  
"Let's stop this line of questioning now, all right?"  
  
"Sure. You stay here and plot away as you turn into a bitter old  
maid. I'm going to have some fun."  
  
Urd growled.  
  
I hate this, Eric thought. Wearing the headband, he was once again  
cut off from his AI. He found he missed it more now than he had  
before.  
  
I know how important it is to fix this problem once and for all, but  
I don't like being a pawn in some gigantic chess match, he groused.  
At least it'll be over soon enough, assuming it works this time and  
I don't get toasted. With any luck I'll have the code finished in  
an hour. With a little more luck, this won't start a war. The knot  
in his stomach reminded him the odds might not be so good.  
  
"Bon jour, mon cherie," Peorth said as she settled beside his  
terminal.  
  
Eric nearly jumped out of his skin. After a few moments of  
recovery, he managed to reply "H-hi, Peorth."  
  
She leaned forward and sighed. "You have the most beautiful eyes,  
cherie."  
  
"Th-thanks," Eric replied, leaning as far back in his chair as he  
could. His gaze came to rest on the considerable amount of cleavage  
she was showing. WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? a part of his mind screamed  
as he wrenched his eyes away from Peorth's chest and locked them  
onto her face.  
  
"So you find me attractive after all?" Peorth purred. "I was  
beginning to wonder."  
  
Eric opened his mouth, but nothing came out.  
  
Peorth chuckled. "Penny for your thoughts."  
  
"Ah... um... gazelles?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"I was thinking about gazelles."  
  
"Gazelles? As in antelope?" He's African... are gazelles  
considered to be fertility symbols in his culture? Yes, of course  
they are! It's obvious! "Oh, yes! Gazelles bounding across the  
African savannah, so full of life, energy, passion..."  
  
"Hello, Peorth." Skuld trotted up the steps to where Eric was  
working.  
  
"Hello, Skuld," Peorth replied. How does she always manage to show  
up at times like this?  
  
"Hi, Skuld!" Eric said. I'm saved!  
  
Skuld reached the platform and looked suspiciously at Peorth.  
  
"Don't worry, I was just leaving," Peorth said. "See you later,  
blue eyes."  
  
When Peorth had gone, Skuld peeked over Eric's shoulder. "Wow!" she  
exclaimed. "What a cool looking program! You know, I've seen a  
picture of that, somewhere."  
  
"Oh, this? I got it out of a book I once read."  
  
"That's it! It was in Mom's 'Big Picture Book of Supernatural  
Beasts'!" Skuld looked at Eric. "How did you get ahold of that  
book? Did you read it while you were recuperating at home?"  
  
"No, the book I'm talking about was written a long time ago by a man  
named Tolkein. This thing's called a Balrog. Well, it's a Balrog  
without the wings and a little more fiery. Oh, yeah, and a sword  
instead of a whip."  
  
"Wow, it looks just the same. Freaky. So, are you almost done?"  
  
"Getting there."  
  
"OK, just let me know when it's ready, because I want to be here  
when you activate it."  
  
"Will do."  
  
"Well, I'm going to go talk to Urd. I just came by to save you from  
Peorth."  
  
"For that you have my undying gratitude."  
  
"Hey, I had to save Keiichi from her too, once, so I knew what to  
expect." Skuld summoned her command chair and joined Urd and  
Peorth.  
  
Eric sighed. I hated lying to you, Skuld, but when this thing goes  
off, you can't be associated with it. The least I can do is take the  
blame for this. Just a few more minutes.  
  
"Did you see what he was working on?" Urd asked Skuld  
  
"Of course I did!"  
  
"Honestly, Urd, now you're picking on the child?" Peorth asked.  
  
"Child?" Skuld bristled at the "C" word.  
  
"Well she, at least, took a look at what Donovan was doing while she  
was down there. So, dear sister, why don't you tell me all about  
it?" Urd asked sweetly.  
  
"If you want to know what he's working on, you should ask him  
yourself," Skuld replied.  
  
Now Urd bristled. "You know he won't talk to me. And I was trying  
to be nice to you, too!"  
  
"You've got to be kidding. My nice and sweet sister isn't here  
right now. And anyway, it's not what I came to talk to you about."  
  
"Oh? What did you want to tell me?"  
  
"The Ultimate Force program has been checked out. It's ready to  
go."  
  
"Well, well, well. That's the best news I've heard all day!" Urd  
said.  
  
"I can go back to the Earth Help Center!" Peorth cried.  
  
"And get out of my hair!" Urd added.  
  
"Hey, now." Peorth warned.  
  
Urd smirked.  
  
"Well I'm in such a good mood I'll forgive you this once," Peorth  
said. "I'd better go make sure everything's ready. I want to open  
the phone lines as soon as the Ultimate Force is running. Oh, I can  
already feel those desperate voices crying out for assistance from  
the number one Earth Help Center."  
  
"Mmf!" Urd stifled a laugh. "You'd better hurry, then. As soon as I  
run these final checks I'm going to fire it up."  
  
Peorth left.  
  
"Hehe," Urd shook her head. "You know, Skuld, the last few years  
with Flower Girl have made me realize how good it's going to be to  
have you back."  
  
"Well, I'll be glad to be off of debugging detail for at least a  
little while," Skuld answered hesitantly, not sure how to take what  
sounded like an honest compliment from her eldest sister.  
  
"Speaking of that, you've done a fine job through all of this,  
Skuld, heading the debugging effort. Still, it's going to be even  
better to see you back in an admin's chair. Welcome back, kid."  
Urd extended her hand.  
  
Skuld stared at Urd's hand for a moment before shaking it. "Thanks,  
sis. Um, you aren't just buttering me up so that I'll spy on Eric,  
are you?"  
  
"What?" Urd looked upwards. "I try to give her a compliment and  
look what it gets me!" She turned back to Skuld. "Believe it or  
not, that was honest. Right now, getting the Ultimate Force online  
is more important even than keeping an eye on Donovan."  
  
"Peorth wants to keep more than just her eyes on him."  
  
Urd chuckled. "Yeah, I almost feel sorry for the guy. Being the  
object of Peorth's attention is never a good thing, no matter what  
her mood is. Speaking of Peorth, let's see if we can have the  
Ultimate Force running before Peorth gets her phone lines open."  
Urd cracked her knuckles. Besides, you'll be in a better mood after  
this and it'll be easier to get you to spy on Donovan for me.  
  
"Hey, I'm on it!" Skuld cried, calling up control panels on both  
sides of her.  
  
"Ere, get your tail in gear! The rest of you look sharp!" Urd  
called to the operators as her fingers began flying across the  
panels surrounding her.  
  
Below the goddesses, off to the side of the operators, Eric stared  
at his terminal. This isn't your decision, Eric, so stop acting  
like you have a say in it. Besides, even if this is viewed by the  
other side as some kind of attack... at least you've made sure Skuld  
and the others won't be blamed. So, just do it. Angst ain't your  
thing.  
  
Alarms blared.  
  
"Of all the lousy timing!" Urd cursed.  
  
"What happened!?"  
  
"I'll give you one good guess!"  
  
"But Eric said he'd tell me before he tried anything!"  
  
"Looks like he lied."  
  
-----  
  
The Balrog invoked inside the Nidhog Maintenance Facility in an  
exploding ring of flame, sending demon operators scattering and  
alarms screaming.  
  
Garm, the watchdog defender of Hell, snapped to alertness, his  
senses tingling. Something had invaded the realm he was sworn to  
protect, and that something would pay.  
  
"Nidhog root level access confirmed," the Balrog reported.  
  
Three meters tall, its body blackened by the flames which licked  
across it, the Balrog roared, swinging its flaming sword, sending  
fire cascading about the room.  
  
"Worm delivered. Awaiting final status."  
  
Garm announced his arrival in a howling ring of fire, much like the  
Balrog. The invader was larger than he, but it mattered not to the  
hell hound.  
  
Balrog stalked through the maintenance facility, making impressive  
waves of its sword, waiting for the Worm to report back its final  
status. It only needed to keep the admins and operators distracted  
for a few more moments. As soon as that final status was logged, it  
could terminate.  
  
Hidden within Nidhog, the Worm reported success back to the Balrog.  
  
"Worm successful," the Balrog reported. "Patch in place." The next  
log entry would announce termination.  
  
It never got the chance. Garm hit it from the side, his great jaws  
rending the form into pieces as the Balrog program crashed. In a  
moment the watchdog of Hell stood alone in the facility with the  
taste of victory in his mouth.  
  
-----  
  
"Well, no sparks this time, at least," Eric noted with relief.  
  
Urd landed beside him. "You hacked Nidhog again, didn't you?"  
  
"Of course I did. The error still existed on the Nidhog side."  
  
"Don't get smart with me."  
  
"Sorry," Eric sighed, "you're right. I shouldn't have been flippant  
with you."  
  
Urd looked suspicious. "Why the sudden courtesy, Donovan?"  
  
"Because I'm done, and I'd prefer not to leave on a sour note."  
  
"You've eliminated the problem between Nidhog and Yggdrasil?"  
  
"Yeah. I have to verify it from the logs, but things should be  
running a lot smoother, now."  
  
"Did you use that... Balrog, did you call it? The thing that looked  
like Surt?" Skuld asked.  
  
"Yes, I used the Balrog. It--"  
  
"Hey, hold up a minute, what's this about Surt?" Urd asked.  
  
Eric shrugged.  
  
"The Balrog program he was working on looked just like Surt," Skuld  
said.  
  
"What do you mean 'looked just like Surt'?" Urd asked.  
  
"I mean it looked just like the picture of Surt in Mom's 'Big  
Picture Book of Supernatural Beasts'."  
  
"And you hacked this thing into Nidhog!?" Urd turned to Eric.  
  
"I needed a diversion while the worm completed the repairs."  
  
"So you sent them Surt!?"  
  
"I sent them a fictional creature out of a book I read once. I  
wanted it to look big and impressive to keep them distracted. I  
didn't know that it looked like anything real."  
  
"They must be freaking, right now. So, what exactly does your  
little diversion do?"  
  
"Nothing, really. It just walks around and looks fierce. I didn't  
give it any offensive capabilities other than some low level flame  
effects. I didn't want to damage anything on the other side. I  
only needed the diversion for a few seconds."  
  
"Can you prove that's all it did?"  
  
"Sure, it logged everything."  
  
"Skuld, get those logs. I have a phone call to make."  
  
"Sure," Skuld said.  
  
Urd summoned a phone and began dialing a number.  
  
"Hi, it's me."  
  
"I'm a little busy now, Urd dear," the ruler of Hell answered.  
  
"Let me guess. You've had reported sightings of Surt down there."  
  
"... How did you know?" Hild's voice betrayed suspicion.  
  
"It wasn't really Surt that you saw. Somebody here hacked into  
Nidhog and planted that Surt look-alike."  
  
Hild's voice went icy. "Have you caught the hacker?"  
  
"Yes, and we're investigating just what happened."  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"I'm not at liberty to say."  
  
"This is serious, Urd. I need to know who did this."  
  
"Take it up with the big guy, then. This isn't the first time  
someone from the other side has hacked one of our systems, you know.  
In fact, this should just about even the score between us for that  
Welsper incident."  
  
Hild made an exaggerated sigh. "Then can I at least expect that the  
hacker will receive the standard punishment? Will he, she or it be  
stripped of all powers and reincarnated as a low order life form?"  
  
"Well, I'm not so sure about that."  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
"You may have to settle for a memory erasure."  
  
"Memory erasure? A slap on the wrist? For hacking our system?  
That's completely unacceptable! You know the standard procedures  
for an infraction of this magnitude as well as I do."  
  
"Those rules only apply to immortal beings."  
  
"Immortal beings? Urd, dear, are you withholding information from  
me, again? You should show more respect to your mother."  
  
"Withholding information!? I've been trying to tell you, you old  
cow, but you keep interrupting me!"  
  
"Then tell me, Urd, dear."  
  
"Gaah! You're so--"  
  
"So much like an eldest sister I know," Skuld remarked.  
  
Urd glared daggers at Skuld before turning back to the phone. "The  
hacker is a mortal."  
  
There was a pause on the other end of the phone line. "A mortal?"  
  
"Yes, so reincarnation as a lower order life form would be  
tantamount to a life sentence, and it's not like it'd be that much  
of a demotion anyway. He'll be punished," she gave Eric a level  
stare, "but our options are kind of limited." Besides, the Almighty  
has been so protective of him, there's no telling how he might  
intervene in the judicial process.  
  
"Very well, then." Hild suddenly sounded preoccupied. "You will  
inform me of the hacker's final status?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll let you know. But only if you stop pissing me off."  
  
"You really are too much like me sometimes, Urd dear." Despite her  
words, Hild's voice held a trace of pride. "Well, give me that call  
as soon as you know something."  
  
"Bye." Urd slammed the phone down. Why does she always gets to me  
like that?  
  
"How could you say we would erase Eric's memories?" Skuld demanded.  
  
"Like I said," Urd looked at Eric, again, "the standard punishment  
of reincarnation as a Level 4 life form would be either too harsh or  
not harsh enough, depending upon how you look at it. Besides, this  
isn't our decision. The council will decide what happens to him.  
Now, what about those log files?"  
  
"There's a problem," Eric said.  
  
"I didn't ask you."  
  
"The log stops before the program terminated," Skuld said.  
  
"What do you mean, 'before the program terminated'? How can you  
tell?"  
  
"They just stop. They could have been truncated or the program  
could have stopped logging prematurely."  
  
"Let me see them."  
  
She was still examining the log when Belldandy walked up.  
  
"What's happened?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"Donovan hacked Nidhog with a program which looked a lot like Surt,  
Hild about blew her top, and now Donovan's program has gone off to  
who knows where," Urd replied, her attention on the log.  
  
"It wasn't Surt," Eric protested. "It was just something I made up  
to distract the admins and operators while the worm patched the  
synchronization errors."  
  
"Does Hild know this?" Belldandy asked.  
  
Who's Hild? Eric wondered.  
  
"I told her. She wasn't happy, but at least she isn't doing  
anything drastic," Urd said.  
  
"That's why I didn't tell any of you what I was doing or when I was  
going to do it," Eric said. "I didn't want you to be involved if  
this thing created an incident." So Hild is the demon admin Urd was  
talking to on the phone?  
  
"You still should have told us," Skuld said.  
  
"And now we have a high level program running amok on Nidhog," Urd  
added.  
  
"It isn't still running. I programmed it to terminate once the worm  
had patched the system."  
  
"Except your own logs don't show it ever terminating," Urd said.  
  
"Even if it didn't terminate, it was designed only to look menacing.  
It isn't going to crash anything."  
  
"Donovan, every time you do something on the system, impossible  
things happen. I know you say your program won't misbehave, and I  
may even believe you're sincere, but the fact of the matter is that  
nobody can predict the consequences of your actions."  
  
"I can," Eric said.  
  
"Like the first time you hacked Nidhog?" Urd replied.  
  
Eric looked at his hands for a moment. She's right, of course. How  
do I know for sure my program isn't still sitting in the process  
table on Nidhog? "I've finished what you brought me here to do.  
I'd like to go home, now."  
  
"That'll be up to the judicial council, though even considering the  
severity of your crime I think they'll let you go back. You're too  
dangerous to have around here," Urd said.  
  
"I don't trust those old fogeys," Skuld said.  
  
"The Council will be fair..." Belldandy was interrupted by the phone  
ringing.  
  
Urd answered. "Hello? ... Yes, sir, he said he's ready to go back.  
... Sir? ... Yes, sir." She hung up the phone. "The big guy said  
we're to handle this ourselves, in a manner that we deem  
appropriate."  
  
"Then he doesn't have to have his memory erased after all!" Skuld  
said.  
  
"I don't know, it's still probably a good idea." Urd looked to  
Belldandy.  
  
"What do you mean, a good idea!?" Skuld asked.  
  
"Perhaps we should ask Eric?" Belldandy offered.  
  
The three goddesses turned to face the mortal.  
  
"Since that's the penalty, I think it'd probably be a good idea to  
go ahead and erase my memories. Will it just be the ones from  
here?"  
  
"We could erase just your memories of us and of Heaven," Belldandy  
suggested.  
  
"We don't have to erase anything!" Skuld said. "Eric, tell her you  
don't want your memory erased!"  
  
"No, this needs to be done," Eric said.  
  
"Needs to be? Intuition, again?" Urd asked.  
  
"Yeah. Besides, it could make trouble for you if you made the  
punishment too light."  
  
"What could they do to us?" Skuld argued.  
  
"Skuld does have a point, Eric," Belldandy said. "You shouldn't  
worry about us. We'll be fine regardless of the action we take  
here."  
  
"Yeah, well, it just needs to be done. Besides, I've made a jerk of  
myself while I was here, and I'm not sure I want to remember it."  
  
"An apology?" Urd asked.  
  
"No you haven't!" Skuld said.  
  
"Yeah, I have, Skuld. Maybe I needed to be one, or maybe I was just  
too lazy to find a better way to get the job done. Regardless, I'm  
sorry for running rogue on all of you like this."  
  
"Eric, so you are serious about this?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
"Then, perhaps it is for the best." Belldandy began to prepare a  
spell.  
  
"One thing, though, could you take me back to my apartment in  
Berkeley instead of the Blacktail B&B? I sent my car back, and it  
would be hard explaining a sudden arrival to the Schefflers."  
  
Belldandy nodded. A sphere appeared in her hand.  
  
"Sis!" Skuld protested.  
  
"It's OK, Skuld. I really do want this," Eric assured her.  
  
Skuld looked at Eric, then dropped her gaze to the floor. "Goodbye,  
Eric."  
  
Eric seem to fall asleep as energy from sphere in Belldandy's hand  
washed across him.  
  
"Sis, how could you?" Skuld whispered.  
  
"I only sealed them, Skuld," Belldandy said as she looked at the  
seal sphere. "They haven't been erased, and I think perhaps he will  
have a chance to be at peace, now." Belldandy said as tears welled  
up into her eyes.  
  
"Hey, don't take it so hard," Urd counseled. "Here, I'll take him  
back myself. You aren't in any condition right now." She placed a  
hand on Belldandy's shoulder. "Don't be so down, Bell. You did what  
had to be done."  
  
"It's not that, so much."  
  
"Oh, then what?"  
  
A tear slid down Belldandy's cheek. "He never got his wish."  
  
-----  
  
The holovision blazed for a moment as Urd stepped through. She  
walked to the couch and dumped her burden unceremoniously. "So,  
this is your apartment." She looked around at the food wrappers,  
computer equipment and occasional article of clothing scattered  
about the room. "Yeesh, what a dump."  
  
She walked back to the holovision and paused. Turning, she looked  
at the unconscious Eric.  
  
"Try to be a good boy this time, Donovan."  
  
Then she was gone.  
  
-----  
  
EPILOGUE:  
  
Urd heard the music before she saw him. Fortunately, he wasn't  
singing. For a moment, the simple beauty of the piece almost made  
her reconsider this.  
  
"Urd!" Troubadour cried, setting aside his instrument as she landed  
beside him.  
  
"Hi, Troub, nice tune."  
  
"Thank you. Why do you look so serious, Urd my love?"  
  
"We need to talk. No, it's more like I need to talk."  
  
"Oh? What about?"  
  
"About us. I've been doing a lot of thinking about our old  
relationship and, well, it's time we formally called it off."  
  
"Why, Urd? I'm here, now. I can give you all the attention you  
deserve!"  
  
"It isn't you, it's me, Troub. I can't get over the fact that you  
ever put anything ahead of me. There was a time when I wondered if  
after you had your license and we had more time together, if I could  
put aside my anger. But I can't."  
  
"Urd..."  
  
"If we were together, I'd always be remembering the past. Every  
time you had to renew your license or somebody mentioned it, it  
would remind me, and I'd hate you for it. You don't deserve that.  
It's like you said the first time you left. Pursuing your license  
is what plum tree spirits do. Just like all the gods and goddesses,  
they're expected to get their licenses."  
  
"I would support you in getting your first class license any way I  
could, Urd. You wouldn't have to do it alone."  
  
"I'm not talking about my license here, Troubadour, I'm talking  
about our places in the grand scheme of things. You play by the  
rules, do what's expected of a plum tree spirit. I can't be like  
that. If I have to spend the rest of eternity as a Goddess Second  
Class then so be it, but I will never be a regular goddess." Even  
the Almighty couldn't seal away my demonic heritage. "You need to  
find yourself a regular goddess, one who can do regular goddess  
things with you. I'll never be that goddess, and if we're together  
I'll hate both of us every day because I'm not."  
  
"No, you're wrong!" Troubadour said, rising to face her. "You're  
the only goddess for me. You're unique, Urd. There isn't another  
goddess in Heaven like you. I know in the past I haven't been as  
attentive as you wanted, but things are different, now. We'll work  
this out, you'll see!"  
  
"You're too hard on yourself, Troub. Other than that jealousy thing  
you've always been a nice guy. Don't worry, you'll find someone  
else."  
  
"No, I won't! There is no one else but you, Urd. Give me a chance  
to prove myself!"  
  
"It won't work, Troub. Why can't you see that? I can't go back to  
being that young goddess who sat underneath a tree and exchanged  
gifts with you. I don't know why, I just can't." Have I been  
spoiled by Belldandy and Keiichi? Are my expectations too high?  
  
Troubadour stared past Urd, out to the horizon. After a while, he  
turned his eyes back to her. "Is it another god, then? I don't  
care. I'll never give you up, Urd."  
  
"What? Of course there isn't another god! This is about me, not  
you or any other god. It's my problem."  
  
Troubadour rose to his feet. "Something else, then, is causing you  
to turn your heart from me. What is it, Urd? Tell me."  
  
"Haven't you listened to a word I've said? This is about ME!" Urd  
sighed and shook her head. "Even now, you aren't concerned about  
what I want, are you? You're still doing what _you_ want to do.  
Nothing has changed."  
  
"Urd, I only want what's best for us."  
  
"There is no 'us', Troubadour." Urd blinked back a tear. "Not any  
more."  
  
"Urd..." Troubadour reached out and began to pull her into an  
embrace.  
  
Urd pulled away. The movement dislodged tears which ran down her  
cheeks. She wiped the tears with the back of a hand. Damn, I swore  
I wasn't going to cry.  
  
"Urd, I can understand you're upset. We can talk about this later.  
  
"No, there isn't going to be a later. Goodbye, Troub." Urd turned  
and, springing into the air, raced away.  
  
Finally within the comfort of the home she shared with her sisters  
and walked to her room. "Well, whether that idiot realizes it or  
not, it's time for me to move on." She stopped in front of the  
single table in the room and opened an ornate box. Removing a  
bracelet, she looked one last time at the inscription inside the  
band, 'To Urd from Troubadour'. She placed the bracelet gently  
inside the box and closed the lid. "I only wish I knew how or where  
to."  
  
-----  
  
End Chapter 4  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
The biggest surprise for me so far has been how much fun I've had  
writing Peorth. She makes a wonderful foil for both Belldandy and  
Urd, since she combines the carefree nature of Urd with some of the  
insightfulness of Belldandy and isn't afraid to use both to the  
consternation of those around her. I've never been much of a Peorth  
fan, but she's definitely grown on me.  
  
When did Skuld save Keiichi from Peorth? Well, Skuld's memory of  
events may be a little colored, here. Actually she once tried to  
Skuld bomb both Peorth and Keiichi when she discovered Peorth waking  
Keiichi up in her usual manner. However, the end result was that  
Keiichi was able to escape.  
  
For those who have read the Dark Horse translation, Troubadour was  
incorrectly described as a cherry tree spirit when he first appeared  
in the manga. The second time he appeared in DH he was correctly  
described as a plum tree spirit, giving the impression it was 2  
different guys when actually it was Troubadour both times. 


	5. Vacation?

"Born Again"  
  
Chapter 5  
"Vacation?"  
  
By Brian Welch  
bwelchz7@yahoo.com  
  
Based on the manga Aa! Megami-sama  
(Ah! My Goddess!/Oh My Goddess!)  
  
The wonderful world of Aa! Megami-sama was created by Kosuke   
Fujishima. Aa! Megami-sama/Oh My Goddess! characters are copyright   
Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo, Studio Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics, Inc.  
  
-----  
  
Yggdrasil Maintenance, Heaven  
  
-----  
  
A lone chair floats above a ring of idly chatting computer  
operators. In the chair sits a woman apparently in her mid twenties.  
Her piercing green eyes and perfectly tanned skin are set off by a  
cascade of gleaming white hair. The beauty of her face is currently  
disfigured by a look of supreme boredom.  
  
Urd yawned and poked at a system status panel floating next to her.  
Glancing down, she looked at the idle operators. Should I yell at  
them? she wondered. Get them to pay attention to the system instead  
of gossiping or whatever it is they're doing? Nah, they'll be back  
at it in ten minutes. Besides, it's not like there's anything going  
on to pay attention to. She yawned again and stretched a bit.  
  
Skuld appeared in her chair next to Urd and was greeted with a  
disinterested look.  
  
"What's wrong this time?" Skuld asked.  
  
"Nothing's wrong," Urd grumbled.  
  
And that's a problem? Skuld wondered.  
  
"Find any interesting bugs?" Urd asked, halfheartedly.  
  
"Nope. The new zappers and debugging routines are still handling  
most of them. I thought I'd see if you needed any help."  
  
"Sure. Knock yourself out, kiddo. You can be sys admin, it's all  
yours." Urd waved her arms expansively and leaned back in her chair.  
  
"Really? All right!" Skuld cried, ignoring the use of the "K" word  
in her excitement. She began bringing up status panels and gleefully  
running through diagnostic logs and performance data.  
  
Amused, Urd watched her sister's animated face as she encountered a  
minor puzzle, worked out a solution, and went on to the next  
challenge.  
  
I used to be like that, she thought, excited with every moment I  
spent in this chair. Of course, back then we had REAL problems to  
work on. Urd chuckled. Listen to me. I sound like somebody's  
grandmother explaining how tough things were back in the "old days"!  
  
She summoned a mirror and gave herself a critical inspection. She  
didn't like what she saw. "The spark's gone out of you, girl," she  
mumbled. "You haven't done anything really fun in decades. What you  
need is... a VACATION!"  
  
"What!?" Skuld jumped in her seat and looked to her sister. "What  
did you say?"  
  
"Oops!" Didn't mean to blurt that out. Urd blushed and, banishing  
the mirror, looked down at the computer operators. They, too, had  
ceased activity and were looking quizzically at their boss.  
  
"Uh... I said I've decided to go on a vacation!" Urd ad-libbed,  
checking for a reaction from her audience. Everyone continued  
staring at her.  
  
"Hey, what are you looking at? Get back to work!" Urd yelled down at  
the operators before taking a deep breath and settling back into her  
chair. "Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. Like I was saying, Skuld, you've  
been doing such a good job lately, I've decided to turn the system  
over to you for a while. Kind of a field trial to see how you'll do  
on your own." Hey, whaddaya know, I'm feeling more relaxed already.  
Yeah, this will be a good chance to hone my ping-pong skills. All I  
have to do is sell the kid on the idea.  
  
"Wow, do you really think so?" Skuld sounded hesitant. "Last time  
you dumped the system on me... she thought back to the time Urd had  
run off to Earth and left her alone in the heavens.  
  
"Oh, come on. You were just a kid back then." Still are, but I'll  
remind you later... after my vacation. "Besides, it's not like there  
are any looming issues or anything. The System practically runs  
itself these days. It's time you got a chance to be 'Acting System  
Administrator', Skuld. Besides, you can always give me a call if  
anything critical," translate that to 'interesting', "happens."  
  
Skuld thought it over. Wow. The whole system... mine. It's a little  
scary, but Urd's right. I'm getting pretty good at this system admin  
stuff. I bet I could do a great job of running Yggdrasil. "I'll do  
it!"  
  
"Great!" I'll be out of here in no time! Urd felt her spirits  
rising. "Better go let Belldandy know."  
  
She found her sister in the Relief Goddess Office. "Hey, Belldandy?"  
  
"Oh, hello, Urd. What brings you here?" Belldandy greeted her older  
sister with characteristic warmth.  
  
"I've decided to take some time off. Don't worry, I'm leaving the  
system in Skuld's hands while I'm gone."  
  
"Oh, Skuld will be delighted."  
  
"Yeah, she took to the idea right away. She's come a long way in the  
last few years. This gig will be good experience for her." Urd began  
running through a laundry list of reasons why this was a good idea.  
"Besides, the System practically runs itself these days, and Keiichi  
can handle the debugging. Between the two of them, they'll keep  
things in tip-top shape."  
  
"Then I'm sure everything will be fine. Where are you going?"  
  
"Not telling." Actually, I have no idea, but I'll think of  
something. "I'm going to get as far away from Yggdrasil Maintenance  
as I can. I'm not even going to think about this place."  
  
"Well, I hope you have a nice vacation. Bring back some souvenirs,  
OK?" Belldandy said. Urd thought she detected a certain wistfulness  
in the response.  
  
"Of course!" Urd paused, thinking about her sister. She just hasn't  
been the same these last few years. Maybe she could use a little  
decompression, herself.  
  
"Bell?"  
  
"Yes?"  
"After I get back, why don't you and Keiichi take a break  
yourselves? I'll even answer the phones for you if you'd like."  
Yuck. Did I actually say that?  
  
"Thank you, Urd. I don't know, though..."  
  
"Think about it. A nice, quiet dimension somewhere, a place in the  
mountains, nobody else around, just you and Keiichi. The offer is  
open." I bet I could get Peorth to do most of the work, anyway. As  
for my vacation, I think I'll start with one of those new ring world  
casinos...  
  
-----  
  
Berkeley, California, Earth  
  
-----  
  
"What a day." Eric trudged up the creaky wooden stairs which ran up  
the side of the building to his apartment. A breeze rustled the  
fronds of the palm tree growing next to them. "For that matter, what  
a week," he added as the front door opened for him and he made his  
way to the kitchen. Dropping the groceries on the counter and  
stowing the perishables in the fridge, he returned to the living  
room and collapsed onto the couch with a sigh of relief. "Menu," he  
commanded. The new holovision sprang to life, surrounding him with  
myriads of offerings. It was a top-of-the-line model, producing an  
incredibly realistic environment. It had also cost a bundle.  
  
"Anything interesting?" Eric asked.  
  
[Nothing within your normal tastes,] his AI reported.  
  
"It figures. Thousands of channels to choose from, but there's  
nothing worth watching."  
  
"Off," he commanded, letting his head fall back against the couch,  
and stared at the ceiling.  
  
That's when the holovision exploded.  
  
"What the...!?" Eric's head shot up as chaos enveloped him. "A power  
surge?" he asked as he scrambled to his feet.  
  
[I have queried the apartment and there has been no power surge.]  
  
"Huh? Then... wow, what's that?"  
  
An incredibly beautiful woman had stepped out of the blinding chaos  
which had been his holovision. The expression of joyful anticipation  
which filled her face rapidly faded into one of confusion.  
  
"Wait a minute, this isn't..." Urd looked about her, scratching her  
head. "This junk piled everywhere is disturbingly familiar, though."  
Her gaze settled on the young man standing before her. "Hey, what am  
I doing here?" Must have taken a wrong turn or something. Oh well,  
I'll just leave him wondering what happened.  
  
Turning around, she walked back into the holovision and disappeared  
into another blinding flash of light.  
  
Eric blinked, then blinked again. "That was strange," he said. "I'd  
better check it out." Walking over to the set, he knelt down to  
examine the 3D projector and sniffed the air. "No odor, no burn  
marks, nothing seems to be obviously fried."  
  
[Holovision diagnostics report no malfunction.]  
  
"Good thing it's still under warranty." He began to give it a closer  
inspection.  
  
The holovision exploded again.  
  
"Oof!" Eric was squashed to the carpet by a foot planted squarely  
upon the base of his neck as Urd once again strode into the living  
room. He twisted his body to dislodge whatever it was squashing him,  
with predictable results.  
  
"Hey!" Urd yelled as she collapsed on top of the mortal. Her knee  
caught him on the side of the head.  
  
"Ouch!" Eric found his face once again introduced to the carpet,  
only this time he could feel some kind of fabric draped over his  
head. He couldn't see a thing.  
  
"Watch what you're doing!" Urd scolded as she began to get to her  
feet.  
  
"Huh. Who's there?" Eric asked as he reached up to brush the fabric  
away from his face. His hand encountered something warm and soft.  
  
"Hey, I said watch it!" Urd slapped Eric's hand from her thigh and  
finished getting to her feet.  
  
Eric brought his head up to look around and froze, transfixed by a  
pair of very pissed off emerald eyes.  
  
"Donovan."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I should have guessed you'd do something like this." There was ice  
in Urd's voice.  
  
Eric stood shakily and began rubbing the spot where Urd's knee had  
impacted with his skull. "Who are you, and how did you get in here?"  
  
Urd's stabbed a finger at his chest. "Just what are you trying to  
pull, Donovan?"  
  
Eric jerked like he had been hit with a stunner.  
  
"You have three seconds to explain yourself," Urd warned.  
  
"Who ARE you?"  
  
"One."  
  
"What are you doing in my apartment!?"  
  
The pissed off expression only deepened.  
  
"Two."  
  
"Hey, now, just tell me what's going on, OK?" Eric changed tactics  
as he raised his hands in a calming gesture.  
  
"Don't make me laugh. If you think I'm buying this innocent routine  
for one minute..."  
  
"Innocent routine? You're the one in MY apartment, lady!"  
  
Urd started to open her mouth, then shut it. The look in her eyes  
was now deadly. "Three."  
  
*FZAK!*  
  
Eric wavered on his feet for a moment, then crumpled to the floor.  
  
"Hah, what a wimp." Urd smirked, then looked puzzled. "Wait a  
minute. That was way too easy. Hey, Donovan, you playing possum or  
something?" Urd poked him with her toe. There was no reaction.  
  
"Wow, he's out cold!" Hands on hips, Urd analyzed the situation. "He  
should have been able to block that energy bolt easily. What's going  
on, here?"  
  
Kneeling, she passed a glowing hand over Eric. "Well, I didn't hit  
him hard enough to do any real damage, and at least he can't stop me  
any more. Sweet dreams, Donovan."  
  
Turning, she walked back to the holovision and disappeared.  
  
The holovision flared again and a very surprised Urd appeared. "What  
the..." Stepping over to where Eric lay, she checked him again.  
"Still sleeping like a baby. Come to think of it, he shouldn't have  
been able to stop my transport in the first place since it wasn't an  
attack. So if it isn't him keeping me here, it must be a system  
malfunction of some sort. Hmm. Where's a phone?"  
  
She found one in the kitchen and dialed a number. "Hello... hey,  
whaddaya mean I dialed a number that isn't in service?" she barked  
at the standard recording from the phone company. She dialed again  
with the same result before slamming her fist down on the disconnect  
button.  
  
"Wow, the malfunction must be worse than I thought. This is  
beginning to look serious," Urd said, turning to the unconscious man  
on the floor, "Maybe I'm lucky I ended up here after all. If the  
phones don't work I can't expect any help from Heaven, so Mr. whiz  
kid here may be my best bet at figuring out what's going on. In that  
case, I might as well make us both comfortable while I wait for him  
to wake up."  
  
-----  
  
Eric awoke just as a large assault mecha came crashing towards him  
across the barren landscape, guns blazing.  
  
"Waaaaa!" he yelled as he rolled out of the way, and right off the  
couch. "Oof!"  
  
Carpet. He had landed on carpet. His carpet.  
  
[We are still in the living room,] his AI informed him.  
  
"Yeah," Eric said shakily. He rubbed a minor abrasion on his face.  
"Maybe this new holovision is a little TOO realistic."  
  
"Shhh, this is the best part!" came a woman's voice.  
  
Eric's hand froze. He turned to look towards the origin of the  
voice. "What the... hey, aren't you the--"  
  
"Be quiet!" hissed Urd, her eyes never straying from the holovision.  
  
Is she...?  
  
[Appearance and voice pattern matches the person who appeared  
spontaneously from the holovision and attacked us earlier. Recommend  
extreme caution.]  
  
And... is she really floating in mid air?  
  
[It appears so.]  
  
Eric began very carefully inching away. Once there was a hopefully  
safe distance between himself and the impossible woman, he began  
collecting his thoughts - not an easy task with a battle being waged  
all around you. OK, now, let's look at this logically. Could we both  
be hallucinating? Could we have taken a massive shock from the  
malfunctioning holo and now we're delirious?  
  
[My diagnostics report proper function. Your brain patterns are  
within normal parameters considering the circumstances. House  
reports no malfunction."  
  
Eric sneaked another glance at the impossible woman.  
  
"Yeah! Go get him!" Urd cheered.  
  
This makes no sense. Why would someone who can materialize out of a  
holovision and float in mid air be watching a B grade movie in my  
apartment... and enjoying it?  
  
[Insufficient data.]  
  
That was a rhetorical question.  
  
[Oh.]  
  
Eric's stomach growled long and loudly.  
  
Urd flicked a glare in his direction. "Hey, I told you to hold it  
down!"  
  
Oh, great. Eric clutched his stomach to muffle further rumblings.  
I'm going to die because my stomach is interrupting this person's  
movie. I wonder if I can make it to the kitchen?  
  
[It would be more prudent to simply flee the premises and call the  
police.]  
  
And tell them a floating lady appeared from my holovision and has  
taken over my living room? I don't think so. Eric began to slowly  
make his way around the back of the room to the kitchen. Besides, if  
she can do things like that I'm not about to risk getting her angry  
with me... and I've got a funny feeling about her for some reason.  
  
Urd, completely engrossed in the show, ignored him.  
  
Several minutes later Eric was well into a steaming bowl of chili.  
Its warmth and rich aroma had lulled his frayed nerves into a state  
of bliss, allowing him to ignore the sounds of warfare coming from  
the living room. He was no nearer a solution to his current  
predicament, but at least he felt better.  
  
"That's a great setup you have, there!" Urd jerked a thumb towards  
the holovision as she walked into the kitchen.  
  
Eric choked.  
  
Unabashed, she pulled out a chair and took a seat across the table  
from him. "How many channels do you get on that thing, anyway?"  
  
Eric might have replied, but he was too busy trying to cough the  
chili out of his lungs.  
  
Urd chuckled. "You always were easily startled."  
  
Unable to speak, he just stared between coughs. 'Always were'? What  
did she mean by that?  
  
"Donovan, do you have any idea at all of who I am?"  
  
He shook his head emphatically.  
  
Urd sighed, settling back into her chair and looked critically at  
him for a moment. Apparently reaching a conclusion, she said "OK, it  
looks like I owe you an apology, Donovan. I thought you might be  
behind this crazy business about me being cut off from Heaven and,  
well, I guess I lost my cool for a bit there."  
  
Heaven? Cut off from Heaven? Eric's eyes took on a glazed look.  
  
"Hey, I'm trying to apologize to you, Donovan." Urd leaned across  
the table. "Pay attention!"  
  
Eric's gaze flicked irresistibly to the generous amount of cleavage  
the goddess was showing before he forcibly locked his eyes back onto  
her face.  
  
Urd didn't seem to notice as she collapsed back into her seat. "Why  
do I get the feeling you're going to be useless in this?"  
  
"Um, well... in what?" he answered hesitantly.  
  
"You're not being very reassuring, Donovan. What happened to the  
know-it-all whiz kid from before? I'm going to need your cooperation  
until I can figure out what's going on, here, but you're certainly  
not going to do me any good in this wimpy, indecisive condition, so  
SNAP OUT OF IT!"  
  
Eric jerked upright.  
  
"There, that's better." Urd gave him a smile. "Now, since you  
obviously haven't a clue as to what's going on, I need to get you up  
to speed on the current situation. How about I explain everything  
you need to know about this predicament and your history with us,  
and then you can ask questions. Deal?"  
  
Eric nodded.  
  
"Good. Besides, bouncing ideas off you may help me get a better  
handle on what's going on, here."  
  
Give HER an idea of what's going on? Eric wondered.  
  
"First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Urd. I'm a goddess."  
  
Stunned silence, then, "Goddess?"  
  
"Yep. Here's my card, if that helps."  
  
Eric took what looked like an ordinary business card and examined  
it. He looked back at Urd and decided to risk a response. "Goddess  
Urd... Urd... as in the Norse goddess?"  
  
"Bingo. At least you know your history."  
  
"The winters are long where I grew up. You read a lot..." Eric's  
voice trailed off as he looked down at the card again, then back at  
Urd. "You say you're Urd, but you're, well, beautiful. I mean, not  
to be too familiar or anything," he added hastily, "but isn't Urd  
supposed to be a wizened old crone?"  
  
Urd's eyes narrowed slightly. Temper, girl, temper, remember you  
need this guy's cooperation. "Look, Donovan, why don't you put that  
vaunted intuition of yours to work. You could tell right off that my  
sister, Belldandy, was a goddess, so what is your intuition telling  
you about me?"  
  
"Belldandy? I don't know any..." Wait a minute. That name...  
  
"Of course you don't," Urd sighed, exasperated. "I wasn't asking if  
you knew Belldandy. I was asking about what your intuition is  
telling you about me."  
  
Dropping his train of thought, Eric answered. "I don't know. It  
isn't telling me anything, really. All I'm getting is like a nagging  
feeling."  
  
"That all?"  
  
Eric nodded.  
  
"Oh, great. That's just wonderful!" Urd began drumming the table top  
with her fingertips. "Donovan, I need both you and your intuition to  
be in tip-top working order."  
  
Eric leaned back a bit. "I'm having a little trouble grasping all  
this. What exactly is the emergency?"  
  
"I'm stranded here on this primitive mud ball of a planet in this  
backwater dimension! THAT's the emergency!"  
  
"Dimension?" Why do I have this sense of impending doom?  
  
Urd rose abruptly from her chair, slapping her hands down upon the  
table top. Eric managed to save his glass as the entire table shook  
from the impact.  
  
"Listen," she said, "I see this is hard for your suddenly limited  
intellect to grasp. We're not going to get anywhere as long as you  
think this is all some kind of joke, so why don't I just give you a  
demonstration?" She turned and looked around the kitchen. Maybe a  
little shock therapy would work? Her gaze settled upon the autochef.  
Walking over to it, she gave the appliance a rap with her fist.  
"Hey, you. Come out here for a minute!"  
  
What on earth is she doing? Eric wondered, then boggled.  
  
Something like steam rose from the autochef and immediately  
condensed into a peculiar looking little man, maybe 20cm tall. He  
was dressed in a loud Hawaiian shirt, bright yellow bermuda shorts,  
and sandals. The spiky mess of his hair was a fiery red, which was a  
perfect match for his mustache, the handlebars of which would have  
reached his waist if they hadn't been sticking straight out from his  
face like whiskers. He was standing with fists on hips, obviously  
annoyed.  
  
"Hey, what's the big-- yikes!" he yelped as Urd picked him up by his  
collar.  
  
"Hey, lemme go!" he protested, windmilling his arms and kicking. "I  
been doin' a good job, haven't I? Especially considerin' the cut-  
rate ingredients this fella," he pointed an accusing finger at Eric,  
"gives me ta work with."  
  
"I'm not concerned about your performance," Urd said. "I want you to  
tell this stubborn mortal what I am." She dangled the hapless troll  
in front of Eric's face.  
  
"Nothin' doin', toots!" The troll crossed his arms. "You has already  
got me in trouble as it is. This is against the rules, ya know.  
There's no way..."  
  
Urd swung the troll around to face her. Her eyes narrowed  
dangerously. "I commend your dedication to following established  
procedure." She began to raise her other hand. "I'm certain the  
memory of how you bravely stood by your principles will be a comfort  
to you during the long years of your punishment."  
  
The troll's face went deathly white. "Sh-she's a goddess. She's a  
goddess!" he blurted as a smug Urd swung him back around in front of  
Eric.  
  
"And a really scary one, too!" the troll added in a whisper.  
  
"I heard that."  
  
"Eep!" The handlebars on his moustache twitched.  
  
"Now, as long as you remember that fact, my little friend, we'll get  
along perfectly. Have I made myself clear?"  
  
"Y-yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am!" The troll's head bobbed up and down  
emphatically.  
  
"Good." Urd released the little creature which immediately bounded  
back to the autochef and disappeared.  
  
She turned to Eric. "Now do you believe me?"  
  
"Wh... what was that?"  
  
[Insufficient data.] Even his AI sounded shaken.  
  
"That was one of the spirits that run your autochef, of course. What  
did you think it was?"  
  
"Run the autochef. But... "  
  
"You're going to tell me your autochef doesn't have little trolls  
running around inside it making everything work."  
  
Eric nodded dumbly.  
  
"Donovan, I don't have time to give you a grade school lecture on  
the more subtle points of reality. The question is, since you didn't  
believe me, did you believe him?"  
  
"I... guess so." What in Heaven's name have I just fallen into?  
  
Urd sighed. "I suppose that rates as an enthusiastic response out of  
you, at least for today. So, now that we have introductions out of  
the way, I'll continue with explaining what I think is going on  
here. You might as well finish your dinner. This will take a while."  
  
Eric looked down at his forgotten chili. Despite the heavy ceramic  
bowl, it had gone cold.  
  
"Let me warm that up for you," Urd offered, pointing a finger at the  
bowl.  
  
*Fzzt!*  
  
The chili began to steam once again. The familiar wave of aromatic  
warmth rose to meet his nose.  
  
Eric stared in stunned silence first at the chili, then at Urd.  
  
She smiled. "You're welcome."  
  
-----  
  
"So, let me get this straight," Eric said, rubbing his temples. He  
was feeling much more comfortable with a stomach full of chemical  
fire, but that didn't mean his mind was having an easy time  
comprehending all that he had heard.  
  
"You're saying that you arrived here by mistake, because of a glitch  
in some kind of ultimate computer?"  
  
"Yep. My best guess is that Yggdrasil took the coordinates I had  
used in my last teleport away from Heaven, which just happened to be  
the time I returned you here, and substituted them for the ones I  
gave it this time. The glitch must have also overloaded the system  
and now I can't get back. The phone doesn't even work."  
  
"The phone? It was working this morning."  
  
"No, dummy, I'm talking about calling Heaven!"  
  
"On the phone?"  
  
"Yes, yes." This time it was Urd's turn to put a hand to her  
forehead and wince. "It's not working, and that's serious." When I  
think that this is the same guy who waltzed in and fixed  
Yggdrasil...  
  
"Okay, calling Heaven on the phone. I guess I can live with that."  
For now. "And you think I can somehow help you get back to heaven,  
that I helped you fix this Yggdrasil system a few years ago."  
  
"That's right."  
  
"Only, I don't remember any of it because my memories have been  
sealed."  
  
"Right again."  
  
"So why can't you just restore my memory?"  
  
"Because I didn't seal it. Belldandy did it, and when Belldandy does  
a spell, she does it right."  
  
Belldandy... that name again, Eric thought.  
  
"It's going to be tough to break that seal without her password."  
  
Can you verify this memory loss thing? Eric asked his AI.  
  
[It will take some time to perform the necessary cross-checks.]  
  
Do it, Eric replied absently as he suddenly recalled a disagreement  
he had years ago with Mrs. Scheffler, a disagreement over a girl who  
had never existed.  
  
"Hey, anybody home?" Urd asked, waving a hand in front of his face.  
  
"Ah! So... why were my memories sealed?"  
  
"The usual reasons. Security, that sort of thing, but also for your  
own peace of mind."  
  
"What do you mean? You said I fixed the system, didn't I?"  
  
"Yes, you did. However, in order to do that you broke the rules...  
hacked the other side's computer system. That's a very big no-no."  
  
"What do you mean by 'the other side'?"  
  
"The demons, of course."  
  
"Demons!? I hacked a computer system that belongs to demons!?"  
  
"Hey, don't worry. They don't know who did it, just some mortal."  
  
"Oh." They'd track me down? "So... everything is fine, now, right?"  
  
"Yep. The system has been running as smooth as silk. Until now, of  
course. It's hard to believe that Skuld could have screwed it up  
this badly in such a short time."  
  
"Skuld?"  
  
"My baby sister. She's immature, but it really isn't like her to be  
this careless. Still, it's more likely than a major system wide  
failure the moment I leave Heaven. Anyway, you did a good job,  
Donovan, and I need you to do it again."  
  
"But I have no idea what I did."  
  
"Which is what we need to work on. We need to break that memory  
seal, or at least weaken it. If we can weaken it a bit, you might be  
able to break it yourself."  
  
"How would I do that?"  
  
"Because you can kill any program running on Yggdrasil which affects  
you."  
  
"I what?"  
  
"Don't ask me how you do it." Urd waved a hand dismissively.  
"Besides, it seems to have been suppressed when your memory was  
sealed. Unless you've lost it for some reason." Urd gave him a  
searching look. "It's also possible that whatever barrier is  
blocking the phones is also blocking your link with the system. In  
any case, the way I see it our best shot is to attack that seal."  
  
"So how do you attack a seal?"  
  
"Oh, there are lots of ways. Seals are tricky things. They have to  
be made specifically for the thing being sealed. If we could, for  
example, change your nature the seal would be weakened, perhaps even  
break."  
  
"What do you mean, change my nature?" Eric asked nervously.  
  
"Well, let's suppose you were a god/demon hybrid. If we were to,  
say, split you into your god and demon halves... this is all  
hypothetical, of course, the seal wouldn't be able to hold you since  
it was designed to hold the hybrid form of you."  
  
"Uh, yeah," Eric said, looking completely baffled.  
  
"Well, like I said, that was purely hypothetical, as if anything  
like that would ever happen." Her hand brushed the back of her hair  
nervously. "Anyway, we'll be trying a different approach."  
  
Eric noticed a gleam appear in Urd's eye as she said this. Somehow,  
he wasn't reassured.  
  
"I've always wanted to try something like this," she continued. "You  
see, if someone is sealed with a powerful artifact, the seal may  
fail due to the interaction between the seal and the artifact. Now,  
of course your memory wasn't sealed with an artifact, but we may be  
able to weaken the seal by introducing something of great power into  
your memory.  
  
"What do you have in mind?"  
  
"A memory potion!"  
  
"A potion? As in a magic potion?"  
  
Urd nodded. "My specialty. Of course, I'll need to tech up a bit. I  
don't have any of my more powerful formulas available. I'd better  
start making a list of ingredients I can use as a base to build on."  
  
"What kinds of ingredients?"  
  
"Oh, mandrake root, tear of a banshee, that sort of thing."  
  
"Banshee tears? I don't think we have banshees in San Francisco."  
  
"Mmm. That could delay things. I'll need to think about scheduling a  
trip to Ireland."  
  
"How long do you think this will take?"  
  
"I don't know. A few days, maybe a couple of weeks depending upon  
how long it takes to find some of the rarer ingredients."  
  
"Weeks... so, where do you goddesses normally stay while you're here  
on Earth? Do you have a corporate apartment or something?"  
  
"Of course not." Urd rose and walked out of the kitchen into the  
living room, wrinkling her nose at the general state of clutter. "We  
usually don't stay in the mortal realms long enough to warrant a  
permanent residence."  
  
"So, uh, were you thinking about a hotel downtown?" Eric asked  
nervously, following her into the living room.  
  
"I'm staying right here, of course." Urd began walking down the  
hall, pausing to look into the spare bedroom.  
  
Eric hurried after her. "OK, but there really are lots of nicer  
places to stay around here."  
  
Urd turned and gave him a level stare. "I'm not letting you out of  
my sight until I'm safely back in Heaven, Donovan. You could be run  
over by a bus tomorrow, and then where would I be?"  
  
"Well, I don't think the odds are--"  
  
"And I'm supposed to bet my future on that? Sorry, buddy boy, but  
I'm staying where I can keep my eye on you."  
  
"OK, then." He thought for a moment. "I guess I could sleep on the  
couch."  
  
"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll take the spare room."  
  
"It's full of boxes."  
  
"So move them out."  
  
"But it's just four bare walls."  
  
"That's not a problem."  
  
Eric looked at Urd, who returned a very condescending smirk. "OK,  
then, suit yourself," he said.  
  
-----  
  
"That's it," Eric said as he set down the last box and looked around  
his bedroom. "Man, this place always was a mess, but now it's  
looking like a warehouse."  
  
Skirting a stack of boxes, he walked back to where Urd was standing  
in the doorway to the spare room.  
  
"Well, that's a start anyway," she said, tapping a finger against  
her jaw.  
  
Eric looked over Urd's shoulder and blinked.  
  
The formerly carpeted floor was now polished hardwood with a large  
sunburst design in the center. There was a large mirror on the  
opposite wall. There was a bed in the corner. There were curtains on  
the windows!  
  
"Wow... you did all this?" he asked, stunned.  
  
"Of course I did it. You haven't seen any little elves running  
around here, have you?"  
  
Remembering the troll from the autochef, Eric scanned the floor  
around them.  
  
"I was joking, silly," she said.  
  
Urd stared at her room for a moment, then sighed. "This was supposed  
to be my vacation. I never dreamed I'd be spending it in a place  
like this."  
  
"Well, Berkeley isn't exactly a vacation spot, but there are some  
nice sights across the bay."  
  
Urd didn't seem to hear as her voice became wistful. "Though...  
there was a time when I was happier here on this planet than I've  
been at any other time in my life."  
  
For a fleeting instant, Eric didn't see a deity standing next to  
him, but a girl very far from home.  
  
The mood didn't last long though. Urd suddenly smiled and turned to  
Eric. "You know, I could use a good, stiff drink. You don't have any  
sake around here, do you?"  
  
"Sake? That's like Chinese liquor?"  
  
"Japanese."  
  
"Oh, right. Sorry, but I don't have any. I don't drink."  
  
Urd sighed. "Just my luck. So you don't have anything around here at  
all? Even a beer?"  
  
Eric began to shake his head, then stopped. "Wait, I think I have a  
bottle of something a friend gave to me a while back." He headed  
towards the kitchen.  
  
Urd followed him, looking on with interest as Eric began examining  
the back corners of cabinets.  
  
"Here it is!" he exclaimed at last, pulling forth a bottle.  
  
Urd took it and examined the label. "Wild Turkey? Never heard of...  
101 proof!? You don't have a cork puller, do you?" she asked, her  
voice rising in excitement.  
  
Eric shook his head.  
  
Urd glowered. "Of course not," she muttered as she twirled a finger  
over the cork which removed itself from the bottle then settled onto  
a counter.  
  
She took a sniff and closed her eyes. "This is just what the doctor  
ordered. You got a... of course not," she added as a shot glass  
appeared in her hand.  
  
Bottle in hand, Urd made her way back into the living room, turned  
on the holovision, ordered up a movie involving large quantities of  
mechs and destruction, poured herself a shot, stretched out in mid  
air, and took a sip.  
  
"Mmm, very nice," she purred. "Your friend has good taste. You  
really should try some of this." She held the bottle out to him.  
  
"Thank you, but no."  
  
"Suit yourself." She reached down and placed the bottle on an end  
table. "This is a great setup you have here, Donovan," she said,  
rapidly becoming mesmerized by the holovision. "It might not be so  
bad staying here for a while after all."  
  
Eric shook his head. The Urd I remember from Norse mythology sure  
wasn't anything like this. Still, there's something about her.  
  
[I have found a discrepancy in my memory,] his AI informed him.  
  
Eric felt a shiver race down his spine.  
  
What kind of discrepancy?  
  
[I have no data and no cross references to events over a period of  
18 days in my past.]  
  
Your memories have been erased, then?  
  
[Yes. There is a very high probability that yours have been as  
well.]  
  
Then, what Urd said is true. When did this happen?  
  
[The period of modification begins while we were at the Blacktail  
Bed and Breakfast approximately 3 years ago. When the period ends we  
were here.]  
  
18 days... the Blacktail B&B... Mrs. Scheffler asking him about a  
girl named Belldandy. It was all coming together, but he needed to  
be sure. He hurried back to his room, closed the door and dialed a  
number.  
  
A familiar face answered. "Eric! What a pleasant surprise. How have  
you been?"  
  
"Just fine, Mrs. Scheffler. Sorry it's been so long since I called."  
  
"Ernst and I know you're very busy. We're always happy whenever you  
call us, Eric."  
  
Translation: You hardly ever call, boy. "Thanks. Um, do you remember  
a discussion we had a few years back about a girl named Belldandy?"  
  
Mrs. Scheffler looked surprised. "Well, I never expected to hear  
that name again! Honestly, Eric, I never knew what you were hoping  
to gain by pretending that such a lovely young lady never existed."  
  
"Well, I... uh..." How do I get information out of her without  
revealing that I can't remember a thing? "So, what did you think of  
her?"  
  
"She was such a wonderful girl, Eric, so very gracious and well  
mannered."  
  
"Do you remember what we were going to do after we left?"  
  
"How could I remember when you never told us what she was hiring you  
to do? Why all these questions all of a sudden? Has she come back?  
Do you think you might bring her by to visit? I'd love to talk with  
her again."  
  
"No, she hasn't come back," he answered distantly. She hired me.  
"Her sister..."  
  
"Her sister is there? Well, then you will have to bring her by to  
visit!"  
  
Now I've done it, Eric chided himself. What do I do, now? He  
hesitated for a long moment before deciding upon an honest response.  
"Yes, her sister is here."  
  
"Then you absolutely must bring her to visit. What's her name?"  
  
"It's Urd, but we're--"  
  
"Now, now, no excuses. If she's anything like Belldandy, she must be  
a lovely girl. I can't wait to meet her!"  
  
Eric's eyes were rapidly taking on that deer-in-the-headlights look.  
He found an excuse to end the conversation almost immediately.  
  
After sitting on the bed and staring at the wall for a few minutes,  
he walked back into the living room and looked at the apparently  
honest to goodness goddess floating next to his couch.  
  
He sighed. Well, there's absolutely no way I'm going to get any work  
done tonight. Maybe Urd has the right idea, after all.  
  
Walking over, he collapsed into the couch. "So, what have I missed?"  
he asked.  
  
-----  
  
The morning sun through the bedroom window lit the room as Eric  
threw off his covers, swung his legs out of bed, and stubbed his toe  
on a box.  
  
"Ouch! What's that doing there?" he asked no-one in particular. For  
some reason, his bedroom was half filled with stacks of boxes. Then  
the memories of yesterday came rushing back.  
  
A goddess... in my spare bedroom... a real, honest to goodness  
goddess.  
  
Eric looked around the room again. "A goddess is living in my  
apartment and the whole place is a disaster area. This isn't right.  
I'd better start a major cleanup campaign."  
  
His stomach rumbled.  
  
"Right after breakfast," he added.  
  
Tiptoeing past the spare bedroom, he headed for the kitchen,  
prepared to order up a large breakfast from the autochef. Then he  
remembered.  
  
"Um, Autochef?" he began hesitantly, his hand frozen just short of  
the control panel. Boy, I feel like an idiot talking this thing, but  
still... "I promise to take better care of you in the future, but I  
need to eat my breakfast now. Is that OK?"  
  
The autochef, of course, didn't respond.  
  
"OK, I guess I'll take that as a yes. Uh... thanks," he added for  
good measure before ordering up a typically large breakfast.  
  
Ten minutes later he was halfway through the scrambled eggs and  
munching on a crispy strip of bacon when Urd walked into the  
kitchen.  
  
She was wearing a mini-dress which appeared to be made of glossy  
black material which clung like a second skin. A delicate golden  
chain encircled her waist.  
  
Eric stared.  
  
Urd smiled.  
  
"Mmmm, that smells wonderful. What's for breakfast?" she asked,  
easing into the seat across the table and snatching a piece of  
toast.  
  
"Hey!" Eric looked at the empty spot on his plate then at the toast.  
  
"Mmm?" Urd replied, busily chewing.  
  
"I mean, what would you like for breakfast?"  
  
"Oh, this will do," she said. "Where's that bottle of Wild Turkey?"  
  
"I don't think it's a good thing to drink something like that for  
breakfast."  
  
"I don't remember asking for your opinion."  
  
"Right." Eric rose to open a cabinet and fetch the bottle.  
  
"Besides, I'm a goddess. It isn't like I have to eat or anything,"  
Urd added as she grabbed the last strip of bacon.  
  
-----  
  
Palm fronds clattered in the breeze coming off the Pacific. The  
tide's coming in, a part of Eric's mind noted.  
  
Urd studied a large list of potion ingredients as she walked beside  
him.  
  
"Urd, can I ask you a question?" Eric said as they neared the local  
grocery store.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"What would you have done to that... thing in my autochef?"  
  
"He's a troll, a nature spirit, Donovan. You'll hurt his feelings  
calling him a 'thing'. You mean the punishment bit? I was just  
bluffing, but then so was he."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"All that rules nonsense. The truth is, those guys couldn't care  
less about the rules. Give them half a chance and they'll slack off  
on you every time."  
  
"Really?"  
  
Urd rolled her eyes. "I suppose you've never had anything break down  
on you for no good reason?"  
  
"Well sure, but I never put it down to stubborn trolls."  
  
"Then you've learned something today, haven't you?"  
  
"But... an autochef's operation is based on the physical laws of the  
universe."  
  
"There's more than one way of looking at the universe, Donovan.  
You'll limit yourself if you insist upon a strictly empirical  
viewpoint."  
  
"I suppose... oh, here we are!" Eric said, motioning toward the  
grocery store.  
  
Inside, Urd squeezed past the potato chips and beef jerky and headed  
straight to the liquor section at the back of the store.  
  
Eric ignored the curious looks from the cashier and looked idly  
about until his eyes settled on the display of autochef supplies.  
  
Soon, Urd was returning with four bottles of Wild Turkey and a  
variety of other things perched precariously in her arms. "You ready  
to go?" she asked. "I need to get to work."  
  
"You got four more of them?" Eric asked as he snatched several boxes  
from the shelf and led them to the front of the store. "You haven't  
finished the first one, yet."  
  
"It always pays to plan ahead," Urd replied with a smile.  
  
"What's all that other stuff?"  
  
"Oh, nothing much, a few things off the herbal supplements rack, a  
bottle of carbonated water, can of pumpkin, stuff like that." She  
carefully set the load onto the counter and picked up a dusty, box.  
"The big find, though, was this box of Peeps which had fallen behind  
a display case!"  
  
Eric looked at the very dusty box of yellow marshmallow things.  
"Don't they sell those at Easter? They've probably expired by now."  
  
"Nah, Peeps are virtually indestructible."  
  
"Well, I can't argue with you there," Eric said as he began placing  
groceries into bags.  
  
The trip home was uneventful after they convinced the store's AI  
that they did indeed want to pay for a box of Peeps which was over  
two months past the expiration date. Soon they found themselves in  
the kitchen and began unpacking their purchases. Urd took her  
purchases to her room.  
  
[Do you realize that these supplies cost nearly twice as much as the  
ones you usually purchase?] his AI asked as Eric finished putting  
away the groceries.  
  
"So? I can afford it."  
  
[Is this the start of a trend? If so, I will need to adjust the  
budget.]  
  
Through with the groceries, Eric settled into the couch and  
considered for a moment. "Yeah, it's going to be a trend."  
  
[You realize that we are overstocked on autochef supplies?]  
  
"I'll donate them to the soup kitchen or something, just get off my  
case!"  
  
"Eh?" Urd came walking into the kitchen.  
  
"Oh, sorry. I was arguing with my AI." Eric tapped the side of his  
head.  
  
"Oh, that's right, you had one of those. What's that like?"  
  
"Kind of like an alter ego. An annoying one at times."  
  
"Hmm. Must be strange, having another intelligence running around in  
your head all the time. Does everyone have them?"  
  
"They're expensive. Mostly technical and professional people get  
them."  
  
"Interesting. Well, there's still plenty of stuff left on my list of  
the raw materials. I think our next stop should be--"  
  
The phone rang.  
  
"Never answer the phone," Urd began mumbling her standard mantra.  
"You never know WHO might be call... wait!"  
  
Eric tapped the phone and the vid screen sprang to life.  
  
Urd skidded to a halt almost in time to keep from bumping into Eric  
then stuck her head between him and the vid screen. "Hello!?"  
  
The face on the screen was disappointingly mortal. "Oh." Urd turned  
to Eric. "It's for you."  
  
"I could tell that, thanks."  
  
Urd headed for the couch.  
  
"Who was that?" The face on the screen asked.  
  
"That? Uh... just someone who stopped by for a while."  
  
"Way to go, Eric! I hope you cleaned up your apartment, though. That  
place is a disaster area."  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm getting to it."  
  
"Hah, I'll believe it when I read about it in the paper. So, who is  
she?"  
  
"None of your business, Kate."  
  
"Is that any way to talk to a friend?"  
  
"When the friend is as nosy as you are, yes. What do you want?"  
  
"Oh, that. Well, some jocks from a club down the beach challenged us  
to a beach volleyball match and Ray accepted. He said we could use  
the publicity."  
  
"And you need someone tall on your team."  
  
"Hey, that wasn't very nice," Kate glared at Eric.  
  
"Sorry, I'm just... kind of edgy right now."  
  
"You should get your 'friend' to give you a back rub then, hmm?"  
  
It was Eric's turn to glare at the vid screen. "See? This is why I  
never can trust you."  
  
"OK, OK, it looks like you're doing fine for yourself right now  
without my help, anyway. The match is tomorrow afternoon, 2:00, on  
the beach next to the cafe."  
  
"Hey, wait, I never said I'd be there."  
  
"You mean you won't help us out?" Kate looked genuinely hurt. "We  
need you, Eric."  
  
"If it's between businesses then it's an employees only match,  
right?"  
  
"Technically, but the rules are pretty lax. Besides, you've done  
some work for us."  
  
"I've worked on your point of sale system what, twice in the past  
year? I see your point, but I still can't make it."  
  
"Oh, hot date?" Kate grinned at him.  
  
"Kate..."  
  
"Eric, you have a gorgeous girl in your apartment! You can impress  
her with your physical prowess! Make her think you're really a jock  
instead of a no life geek! She'll love a day at the beach!"  
  
"What do you mean, no life geek? Besides, she isn't that kind--"  
  
"Beach?" Urd's voice came from beside Eric, causing him to jump.  
  
Geez, how long has she been standing there?  
  
"I can get some of the things on my list there."  
  
"Great, then it's settled!" Kate said.  
  
"What time do you want us to show up?" Eric asked, admitting defeat.  
  
"2:00 sharp! Better yet, stop by at noon and we can all have lunch  
and get to know each other."  
  
---  
  
End Chapter 5  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
My apologies for leaving everyone hanging for 8 months. My time has   
been occupied with writing and then recovering from the AMG   
Technical FAQ, available at:  
  
http://nekomikodai.otakalypse.com/techfaq.html  
  
among other places. 


End file.
